Downfall Blessings and Uprising Legacies
by KSimonT-X
Summary: A new mutant with painful memories and remarkable powers joins the X Men. But as events unravel, the truth behind his past and that of the X Men is revealed to be beyond anthing any of them could have ever imagined. Jott, RogueOC, others
1. Prologue

_**Prologue **_

_Ever since the beginning of life on Earth, life as we know it has changed in ways beyond normal comprehension, growing stronger, growing more intelligent, becoming more capable of survival. This is evolution, the everlasting cycle of species gaining new adaptations, such as strength, speed, and intelligence that allow them to live in Earth's ever-changing climate. Now, over three billion years after life first evolved on Earth, the most intelligent species ever known to exist rules the Earth, humans. With all the aspects of technology, knowledge of the cosmos and of the planet itself, there are many who say that humans are the evolutionary climax of Earth's biosphere._

_However, evolution's power and unceasing influence is continuing to proceed, and now, in the time of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, humankind itself is evolving. Little by little, there are those emerging who are more highly evolved than the norm of the human population. Due to unique genetic mutations, these individuals have amazing powers and abilities, making them stand out from the normal ranks of the Homo sapiens species. These people, possessing their powers as a result of what is called the "X-gene," are known to the world as mutants._

_Since the first emergence of mutants in cities and countries across the globe, they have tried to avoid being discovered for what they are, hiding in the shadows, living out their lives in solitude and isolation, denying their differences to others, and avoiding contact with the outside world as much as they possibly can. They fear rejection of the outside world, knowing that it is human nature to fear and hate the unusual. There are some who say that mutants are just freaks of nature and a menace to all humans. Others believe that mutants are just people who are different in their own ways, fighting for their share of the world and for the freedom that all are entitled to have. While most hardly do anything to act on their beliefs, there are some who are taking steps to bring their plans to life others can only imagine._

_The mutant scientist Professor Charles Xavier has hopes that one day humans and mutants can live in peace together in harmony. To this end, he has established the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters, teaching young mutants to use their gifts responsibly, with discipline and control for the benefit of humankind, creating the X-Men. But there are those who don't share this view of future harmony, such as the infamous Magneto, who believes that humans and mutants can never co-exist. Magneto is also leading his own team, recruiting mutants sharing his view to prepare them to overthrow humankind to make way for the future for mutants._

_Where are these mutants now? They are living among the citizens of Bayville, New York, blending in as ordinary citizens and humans, waiting for the right moment to emerge and let the human populace know of their true nature. One side is bidding its time, waiting for the chance to attack. The other, determining how to make themselves be known without cause fear in their non-mutant kin. _

_Meanwhile, in the mountain city of Moonriver Falls, Washington, a new mutant has emerged among the human inhabitants of this mountain suburb, a mutant who is far more than he realizes and far more than he appears. This mutant is different from normal humans, like all mutants are. But he is different in more ways than one, for he is not only different by human standards, but by mutant standards as well. _


	2. Unknown Mutant Signature

**Disclaimer**: I have to make some things clear before you read. First of all, I don't own the X-Men, Brotherhood, or any of the X-Men Evolution universe. That all belongs to Marvel. However, I do own the new character and the plot and events in this story. In addition, I also have altered to storyline of the true series a fair amount to fit my story so please bear with me on that and don't sue. This is my first attempt at an X-Men fic that contains an original character. This story contains much romance and emotion-filled moments. It contains mentions of pretty much every couple mentioned in the series. Other than the new couple that will be the center romantic focus of the story, Scott and Jean are mentioned the most often because I think that as the epitome of X-Men love, their feelings and influence on the new romantic attraction I will create is essential. PLEASE REVIEW! I must see you opinions and what you think!

**Author's Note: For those of you who read this and a story I recently had on this website called "The New Mutation" in the past, you will probably see that they are the same story. Well that's true and also not true. This story will have the same new character, but the plot and storyline has been reinvented. I recieved several reviews for "The New Mutation" that indicated that it left much to be desired. So I am currently rewriting it in this form, with different events and different details, among other things. The title has also been changed, which is something fanfiction writer Agent-G suggested that I do. I hope you arn't too confused by all this. If you are confused feel free to Email me on this. I will happily answer any questions you may have!**

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**CHAPTER 1**

**Unknown Mutant Signature**

The sight of the street ahead at night was hardly something to consider worth spending time to look at, regardless of who would even take the time to look at it with any real interest of its features. There was nothing even remotely interesting about it at all; garbage cans lined up near a wall on one side, a dumpster and a fire escape walkway on the other along with plenty of graffiti, courtesy of those who couldn't care less about defacing public property.

But for the one person who happened to be on that street that night, it did provide something useful. It provided a space where one could spend time alone without much worry of being interrupted. A tall, intimidating, blond boy of nineteen walked past the backdoors of the buildings along the street. His green eyes missed nothing, his walk flawless in its movements-almost like the programming of a robotic creature being carried out with optimal efficiency. The expression on the boy's face would clearly indicate to anyone that he was beyond the mood for talking. Not that he wanted to talk to anyone anyway.

The boy's name was Simon Peter Valley. Simon Valley was by nature someone who kept to himself. He did have friends, but for the most part, he was a loner. He didn't place much trust in people other than himself and those he was really close to. Pretty much all his life, he had been that way; hard to get close to, a self-sustaining loner of the highest order, and one to whom amusement and happiness did not come easily. Five years ago however, he became even more extreme in that way of living. For it had been then that he had discovered he had secret, a very deep, dark secret.

During a hike up in the mountains of Oregon five years ago, Simon found out he was not normal. In fact saying he was not normal by ordinary standards would be the biggest understatement that could be said in his case. He had some type of power; a power that, he soon learned, was so powerful that he had to stay alert at all times to keep in under reps and out of sight. While hiking on a trail on a camping trip, he had come across a young teenage girl who was being attacked by four motorcycle thugs who happened to be in the vicinity for some reason or another. The four thugs were getting ready to commit things that would haunt the young girl for the rest of her life. Simon had become enraged at it, and then demanded that they let her go, the bikers got ready to rough him up. When he had brought up his hand, ready to fight back when they attack him, Simon saw his hand glow a fierce blue and release bolts of energy that sent the four bikers shouting and falling to the ground as they were zapped with intense electrical energy. The young girl, who saw the whole thing, then became more afraid of Simon that she had been of the bikers, and once Simon's eyes rested on her after he had recovered from his total shock at what he had just did, she had shouted "STAY AWAY FROM ME!" and fled. Left with nothing but his own amazement and the spasm-moving bodies of four fallen thugs, Simon could do nothing but return to his campsite with his mind awash with confusion and fear.

Practically every day since then had been a struggle to keep his bizarre power under tight supervision. Simon had decided that telling his parents right away would not be the wisest of choices. Letting himself figure out what was going on first was a better course of action. Think it over first; figure it out, first things first. Revealing his discovered power to his parents was among the hardest things he could have ever done in his life. Every single minute of that time was as fresh in Simon's mind as if it had been yesterday. He could never forget that day, even if he wanted to. He parents had been totally astonished by it, surprised, confused and shocked beyond comprehension. Just as Simon had feared, they had been frightened. That was the only word that could describe it, as bad as it may have sounded. Luckily, however, they soon recovered from their shock and they had managed to talk things over. Not having the slightest knowledge behind this newly discovered power, Simon's parents and himself agreed to keep it secret as best they could. The outcome of revealing his powers to his parents was not as bad as Simon had thought. So at least Simon had his parents to turn to in times of need.

Simon's family was very wealthy and well respected throughout Moonriver Falls, the mountain city where he lived. His father, Dr. Nicholas Valley, was a geneticist and biology researcher for a genetic research organization. His mother, Dr. Hillary Valley, was both a psychiatrist and a mental health specialist. Having parents with such high paying jobs like that, many citizens of Moonriver Falls' population of about 55,000 said that Simon had been raised in extremely privileged surroundings his whole life. And in many ways that was true. But Simon was far from being spoiled. All his life, he had never really demanded or asked for anything much in particular, only what he needed to live; clothes, food, supplies for school and life. In fact, he usually asked the servants at his parents' house to just let him take care of his own room and responsibilities. He worked hard to earn money and saved it up as best he could, spending it on things to entertain himself only occasionally. Being the loner type as he was made finding satisfaction with life in only himself a necessity.

But ever since that fateful day five years ago, Simon became even more distant that he had been prior to discovering his power. It had scared him half to death when he had first found out about it, and he still was, even now, five years later. He tired to understand his power as best he could, either by trying to harness it or ignore it. Ignoring it however seemed to be a bad idea. So he then persisted in trying to discover how to harness it. Hours spent in lonely locations in the mountains revealed more abilities still to him and as he learned more and the more about his powers and what he could do, the more cautious and disturbed he became. He had soon learned that there was more to his powers than simply electrical lightning. He had discovered he could make his energy do a variety of effects, like smashing a target, melting a target, pulverizing a target into little bits, even exploding a target in a fiery blast. He could even fly and even mold himself into all sorts of shapes. The list of abilites his energy granted him was indeed a long one, even though he discovered he could only do so many feats at a time, each for so long a time.

The primary rule Simon had set for himself was to never use his power in view of the public, or anyone for that matter unless it was a life and death situation. As crazy as it may have seemed to others, Simon set lots of rules for himself regarding his powers. In many movies, television shows and literature, he had encountered many stories involving characters with super abilities, even though they were none like his own, the Jedi in Star Wars, the Prime Directive in Star Trek, the list just went on and on. Along with those, there were rules followed by heroes and how not following such guidelines created villains who did horrible atrocities. Even though these stories, characters, powers, and villains were fictional, Simon couldn't deny that they held a great amount of truth. Following strict regulations could help keep one's power from going out of control. But even more importantly, it kept others safe and kept one's power from going to his head. Things like that could drive a person to do things beyond forgiveness.

Having all that inspiration of what was right and what was wrong regarding those with special abilities, Simon created a strict code of rules for himself to follow. He had to use his powers carefully, never really expose them. If he did, there was no telling what could happen or who would become involved. He sometimes had the crazy notion that if the U.S. government discovered his power and its amazing variety of abilities, strengths, and capabilities, they would probably do what they did in the movies and the like, move him to a research facility, study him, poke and probe him, see if they could do the same to others, cage him like a lab rat. He would never do that in a million years.

Even though Simon did want answers for the reason he had these unique gifts, he was too afraid to go to any doctor or scientist to look for them. Even his parents had agreed with him that he not go to anyone to reveal this. Over the years, Simon had thought endless lists of possible explanations to his power. He had never seen anything that was like his powers in anything that was natural. Maybe he was cursed or because of some alien experiment on him. Eventually, he didn't call it magic or anything that was explainable. Heck, Simon just couldn't guess for a logical explanation, for as far as he could tell, there wasn't one. Walking up and down the streets of the city was beginning to grow tiresome for Simon. Although he was a very athletic teenager who had ablack belt in tae kwon do and a few other forms of martial arts, even he had his limits. He wondered if he should be getting home about now. His parents had a limit of staying out until one in the morning, no later.

Simon looked at his watch. He'd been walking since 10:15 and it was already fourteen minutes to midnight. Did time and walking mix together to create a fast-forwarding of time effect? Probably no, though Simon, but I might as well get back to my house. Anyway there was nothing new to see or do in Moonriver Falls in this part of town this time of night. Nodding to himself, even though no one was present, Simon turned and started to walk back the way he had come.

* * *

Jenny Courtney and Annie Howardson were disappointed more than anything, but not angry. They'd both been wanting to shop till they dropped that night. There was nothing the two of them liked to do more than shop in their favorite stores on Friday nights, which was pretty much they're favorite day of the week. Fridays meant the weekend, and the weekend meant fun and games, no school for two whole days. 

But now, they were not shopping till they dropped or anything. They were driving in Jenny's 1996 Thunderbird down St. Alexander Boulevard toward another section of Moonriver Falls, for the new dress store they had hopped to shop at was closed. Now they had to find something else to occupy themselves with.

"Man, this stinks," groaned Jenny, "I thought that new store would be open tonight."

"You said it. What kind of store is it that closes at 7 p.m. on a Friday night? It's a rip off," agreed Annie, "I was looking forward to this all week."

Jenny couldn't agree more. New clothes, new store, closed by 7 p.m. on a Friday. Talk about a bad combination.

"Well, I guess we'll have to find something else to do," said Annie, "Any ideas?"

"We could see if they're any cute guys around?"

"Sure is worth a try. But we might find some cool arcade or something as well."

"Well then, let's go."

The girls continued to drive around downtown Moonriver Falls. Since it was Friday, there were plenty of shops all about that were swarming with customers and shoppers. Looking this way and that, they saw all types of things that were their interest. Music, movie theaters, book stores, even a pet shop or two here and there. But what Jenny and Annie really wanted was some excitement, some action, some adventure. It was getting late, but they were night people, and one of the disadvantages of being a night person was the fact that some big adventure was sometimes hard to find. But that didn't stop them from looking at least.

"Hey, Jen, how 'bout some music?" asked Annie as they turned to a lonely part of town, where there were not many around and about.

"You go, Girl," Jenny grinned.

Annie switched on the radio and started to surf the frequencies. She continued to fidget with the knob until she found "If You Were A Woman (And I Was A Man)" by Bonnie Tyler. "This is a good one," said Jenny.

They listened to the song for a while. The way Bonnie Tyler said the words and the words themselves really had an effect on the girls. It made them want to prove their equality to males, even though they both had proved it on many occasions. Unfortunately, their music was interrupted suddenly. "We interrupt our regularly scheduled programming to bring you this news bulletin. Five armed suspects have robbed the First National Bank in downtown Moonriver Falls of over 50,000 in cash. Suspects fled the scene of the crime under five minutes ago in a stolen armored transport car. Police are in pursuit going down," Annie turned the radio off.

"Wait Annie, why'd you turn that off?" asked Jenny, suddenly a little afraid by what she had just heard. They were in downtown Moonriver Falls and were fairly close to the bank that the radio announcer had mentioned. Her caution mode was not up and running in full throttle, adrenaline surging through her.

"That idiot radio reporter just stopped out music when it was in chorus," Annie protested, "So what if the bank was robbed. We're not involved so we have nothing to worry about."

But Jenny was not so convinced. "Anne, look we're in the same part of town as that robbery. I know it's not likely but," Jenny never got the chance to finish her sentence. Suddenly up ahead of them, a huge pair of headlights, in high-beam mode, blinded them both, glaring with blazing brilliance.

Jenny was suddenly paralyzed with fear and confusion. A car was coming straight at them. And from the look and sound of it, it was coming up at least 70 miles an hour. Jenny recovered as quickly as she could to get her car out of the way. She was so shook with fear that at first she didn't know whether to turn the car right or left.

"JENNY!" Annie wailed from the passenger's seat, covering up her head with her hands. The sound of Annie's cry may have made a switch in Jenny's head click. She suddenly chose left, for no apparent reason, and swerved the Thunderbird with a quick swing of the wheel. But she did it too much too soon. She car suddenly tipped onto the driver's side and started to roll. Jenny and Annie continued to scream as the vehicle rolled like a toy. It crashed to a stop against a street lamp, the force of the crash bending the pole.

When Jenny finally opened her eyes, she was upside down, still in her seat, seat belt buckled. The Thunderbird was lying on its roof, upside down in the most extreme sense. Jenny could only look to see if Annie was till alright. Annie was struggling to get herself out of the seatbelt and out of the car. The windows were shattered, so at least there would be any trouble getting out once she was free. Jenny realized that she had to get moving herself. After a minute or two of struggling, she had unbuckled the seatbelt and crawl out her driver's side door. She was just about to get up when she saw that she was lying at someone's feet. Then something cold and metallic was in front of her forehead. It was the muzzle of a revolver. She looked up to see a tall man in a black outfit and a black ski mask covering his face standing over her. This was clearly not a good situation. "Don't move girly, or you'll have a little hole where your skull is," said the man in a dangerous voice. Jenny was so terrified that she didn't even move.

"Looks like we got ourselves another hostage," a voice came up from beside the man. It took Jenny a fair amount to work up the courage to look at who had spoken. But somehow she did. She saw Annie in the arms a huge bear-like thug dressed the same way the man in front of her was, holding Annie in a headlock with a semi-automatic assault rifle aimed at her head. Annie was whimpering, tears running down her cheeks in fear of being shot. Jenny didn't dare move, for it might put her friend in danger. The next thing she knew she was being hauled to her feet by the back of her neck. The man was strong, much stronger than she was. The pull was merciless and powerful, forcing Jenny to stand before she even knew she was doing it.

The armored car parked nearby came to her attention. On its side it read in large yellow letters FIRST NATIONAL BANK, MOONRIVER FALLS, WASHINGTON. All hopes of safety turned to water in Jenny's mind. As circumstance would have it, the robbery was involving them.

* * *

Simon Valley moved along the sidewalk down the street with an almost tank-like tread. Even though he was not the heavily armored army assault vehicle with enough firepower to turn a building into flaming rubble, he did indeed have an imposing presence to him in a way that could be compared to a tank. 

After leaving the empty ally he had stopped at over ten minutes ago, he had walked down the street for over five blocks. Still, he had over forty minutes of walking to do before he reached the road that led up to his parents' mansion that was about two miles out of city limits. Simon walked fast, for he walked that way a lot. Covering distance with speed while not running was a good way to go.

He continued on his walk, passing parked cars, garbage cans left outside for the sanitation department to pick up, and stoops, some of them occupied. Ahead of him, he saw a stoop where four girls were sitting. There were two bottles of wine at their feet and he noticed that they were all smoking. Simon didn't see any good value in either drinking or smoking. He had heard well enough what those things did to a person's health and he wanted to remain the healthy young man who he was. But that didn't really bother him. The girls, he noticed, were dressed in party cloths; flashy skirts, party dresses, spaghetti strap tops, and ridiculously high-heeled shoes. They were pretty enough, but Simon was not interested in pretty girls at the moment. He just hoped that they wouldn't give him any trouble when he walked by.

Continuing his pace, he moved past the group without so much as noticing it. So far, they weren't giving him any trouble.

But when he was no more than a few meters from the stoop, he heard a high squeaky voice behind him. "Hey, you. Aren't you going to say hello to us ladies?" a girl's voice asked in a teasing, slightly seductive manner. Simon stopped walking and turned his head to face the group. All of their eyes were on him, twinkling with mischief and some delight. They were also grinning.

"You look like a real lady's man, Stud," said one of the girls, a short, grinning blonde in a scarlet tank top wearing thick makeup, "Want to party with some real party girls?"

_I hate girls like this_, Simon thought, _trying to get guys to do things for them so they can rip them off_. Simon didn't say anything out loud, nor did he flinch or blink. He stood there, looking at them nonchalantly.

Suddenly, one of the girls' eyes widened, as did her grin. Simon recognized her. It was Jessica Garfell, a junior at the school he went to. Rumors had it she was a girl who took boys for only a little while and then threw them away like they were worthless. Simon had made an oath to himself to not be swindled or anything like that by the opposite sex. "Whoa, girls, check it out. It's Simon Valley," Jessica said with glee, her eyes sparkling with excitement which Simon found irritating. The other girls' smiles and eyes perked up as Simon's name was mentioned.

"The rich stud muffin you've told us about?" asked one next to her, smiling wider than before, "Hey, he's cuter than you said."

"A lady's man with lots of green," said Jessica, "I admire that in a man. You want to have some fun with us, Simon?"

Simon's annoyance was growing by the minute. If these girls were trying to sweet talk him into doing something, they would have to do a lot better than that.

Jessica led the trio with her down the steps of the stoop and started to proceed towards Simon. He didn't move an inch from where he was standing.

"Come on, sir. We'll have lots of fun," one of them urged.

"Yeah, let's party all night long."

Simon had finally reached his limit for pitiful excuses of attempts to sound like great women. The four girls finally stopped several feet from him, grinning like there was no tomorrow.

Simon's expression went from blank to annoyed. And then he did something he almost never did in front of another person. He let his eyes glow.

The smiles on the girls' faces suddenly vanished. Fear, shock, and confusion replaced their excitement and hope. Their eyes widened. Simon's eyes, which were usually bright green, where now glowing. Instead of being the fierce emerald green, they were now a vivid electric blue. It was almost like blue light and electricity was building up inside each orb and radiating the brilliance that came with it.

The girls took a step back. They started to tremble. "You girls are getting on my nerves," Simon said flatly, his eyes still glowing blue.

"Look, Simon," Jessica stammered, "we're sorry. We just wanted to have fun and we were just hoping you could lend us a buck or two."

_How pathetically predictable_, thought Simon.

"We just spent all our money on the smokes," said the blonde, shivering at Simon's eye radiance, nervously smiling as sweetly as she could to get him to lighten up.

"You're all overpaid as it is," Simon replied coldly, "Hit the road."

The girls turned and fled as Simon spoke those words. He watched as they vanished up the street. His eyes stopped glowing and became their usual green. In spite of himself, Simon smiled. That felt good. At least they wouldn't try to sweet play with him anymore. He didn't have to worry about the strange phenomenon. If they told anyone about how his eyes glowed, no one would believe them. He hadn't used any major power or anything. It would pass soon enough.

He turned back the direction that he was headed before and walked on. At least there weren't any more problems that might cause him disturbance. He walked on down the sidewalk, his golden blond hair glinting in the light of the street lamps. A cool breeze blew through the air, feeling good on Simon's face. He licked his lips to moisten them.

As he passed a closed drug store on a street corner, Simon noticed something that caught his attention full blast. Several figures in black were holding two teenage girls captive in their custody at gunpoint. They were also carrying several large bags of cash with them. Simon could tell the girls were frightened beyond comprehension. Tears were flowing down their cheeks, their bodies limp in defeat. They weren't even struggling. They were too frightened to try anything, which was probably wise, for if they did, they may be shot. As Simon watched the group from a distance, they disappeared into an abandoned building nearby.

Simon didn't move from where he was until both the thieves and their hostages were out of sight. Once they were, he emerged from around the corner to investigate further. An armored car was parked right in the middle of the street around the corner, doors open, lights still on. On the sidewalk was a totaled Thunderbird lying upside down against a lamppost that had been bent into a funny shape. The condition of the vehicles and the recent events he had just witnessed made what was going on crystal clear for Simon.

His mind began to tumble with what he should do. The authorities wouldn't be much in the way of help once they arrived, for hostages were present. Plus lives may be lost. Heck, it seemed that no one could pretty much do anything with this except make it worse. Simon almost sighed at what he chose to do. If there was anyone present who could stop the culprits and save the hostages, it was him. His mystical powers could aid him. In fact, he often thought that his powers made him unstoppable, even though he never really tried out anything to see if that assumption was correct. But he quickly put that thought aside. He needed to act quickly.

Making sure no one was around or watching him, Simon slipped into a dark alley between two buildings. The alley was darkened with being narrow and shadowy as well. And because Simon was all dressed in black, it would make him even less visible to civilians. Simon looked up towards the tops of the buildings on either side of the ally. He needed a place where no one would see him to carry out something before he entered the abandoned building. The rooftop of the building would be ideal.

Simon's eyes started to glow blue again, but the glow this time was brighter, more brilliant, and more electrical than before. Soon his eyes became featureless with the power, the color hiding all traces of his eyes in human form. He raised his arms and reached upward toward the sky. His body began to glow blue like his eyes, his fierce energy outlining him in sheathing. Theabilities of the blue energy began to go to work. Simon's body was being lifted off the ground, the nature of the power detaching him from Earth's gravitational pull. Simon rose straight up toward the top of the buildings like an elevator. Higher and higher he went, not afraid of the increasing altitude.

Finally the top of the building came into view and Simon maneuvered himself over the edge and onto the roof. As his feet met solid matter, he canceled the energy out. The blue glow faded from him and gravity regained control, but as Simon was already touching the roof, he didn't fall an inch.

Once that was done, Simon got ready to perform what he considered his "armor spell." From what he had discovered about it, it not only hid his identity, but also armor him with some indestructible substance. And because he was going to take on five thugs armed with assault rifles and rescue two innocent civilians, he had to protect himself from the gunfire and hide his identity so that no one would recognize him. If he was recognized while using his powers, his fate would be sealed.

Simon stood statue still where he had set himself down. He closed his eyes and concentrated. Performing this feat took a lot out of him, but while it took a lot of strength from him, it actually returned that lost strength to him tenfold after the transformation, for he also gained increased strength, speed and agility with this spell.

Suddenly the transformation began. Simon's solid body began to change. Light enveloped him and his body transformed. He flashed with brilliant blues, whites, and silvers,the intense colors flashing as his body morphed from its solid form into pure energy. His bones, flesh, organs, blood, cells, and tissues transformed into pure energy. Then, starting at his feet, shimmering blue light began to move up toward his head, over his legs and up to his torso, then to his arms, and head. As the light traveled up in a line, it left behind the armor. As soon as it went over the last part of his skull, he entire body, now in its energy form, was encased in some sort of shell-like protective outer sheathing that was stronger, more resilient, and more resistant to damage than reinforced titanium steel armor. Along with his new armor and body composition came enhanced strength, speed, agility, and reflexes. In this form, he would be virtually unstoppable on the battlefield and totally resistant to any gunfire than would come his way. But more importantly, no one would know his true identity.

The strength and other enhanced abilities surged through Simon, filling him with energy that would put the power produced by an entire thunderstorm to shame. The feeling was incredible; it was like his body was being energized by a nuclear fusion reactor instead of food nutrients and metabolic chemical reactions. He had never felt this alive, this energized.

He turned his eyes, now featureless,glowing spheres, to the abandoned warehouse. He clenched his now armored fist.Blue thermal energy surged through his energy-composed flesh and over his armored exterior in glowing rivers of light and glowing specks, making his hand flare with the intense heat like a gas flame.

Simon canceled the energy he had started. He couldn't do any attacks out in the open. That would attract attention. And the fewer who saw him in his armored form the better. His glowing blue eyes flared. Then, his entire armored body was outlined in the radiance like before. Simon walked quickly to the edge of the roof, scanning the street below for any observers, which he didn't want to have. Seeing he had none, he leaped off the roof, but instead of falling, the blue energy held him up in the air as if he was weightless, and then he flew. Flight was the action's name. He was flying over the street in a quick attempt to reach the rooftop of the warehouse before he was seen. The whole act took only two minutes. That was it. Simon reached the roof and let his blue energy fade away.

So far, everything was going perfectly. Now all he had to do was to get inside and finish the job. He noticed a skylight near him. He walked over to the glass and looked down. Even though his eyes were now pure energy and not solid in any way, Simon could still see as well as any human being, better in fact. The building was an old warehouse, old crates and boxes stacked high and all about down below. There were cranes, pulleys, and rusty pipes going up and down the walls. The two girls were in a corner huddled together. Two of the thugs were guarding them, guns ready to fire. The other three were pouring out the stolen money onto a bare wooden table in the center of the room.

Simon never expected this task to be easy, and it was confirmed that his assumptions were correct. With his magical alien powers, he could do anything. But he had a high sense of honor and self-disciple, which prevented him from causing harm or for using it for personal gain. First step was finished. Time for step two.

* * *

If there was anything more terrifying in the world, Annie would be surprised that it was possible. The armed thieves were holding them captive, had forced their custody upon them. What could possibly be more frightening that having a gun, armed and loaded, pointed at you a little more than a few feet away? Pretty much nothing was. 

"Please, let us go," Annie pleaded, "We haven't done anything to,"

"Quiet, honey," one of the thugs snapped suddenly, "You keep your pretty little words to yourself. If you attract attention, I'll keep you quiet with my little silencer here." He pointed to the silencer on the end of the barrel of his pistol.

Annie quieted down, tears welling in her eyes. He knew exactly what he meant by keeping her quiet with his silencer.

The three thieves at the table started emptying the bags of cash onto it. Huge bundles of dollar bills were soon piled high on the table. They began to start sorting through them. "Man, we're loaded here," said one of them excitedly.

"You said it, bud," said another.

Annie was quivering with terror at the current situation, but Jenny seemed a little more determined to show that she was fearless, or at least pretended to be. "The cops will catch you jerks," she said defiantly, "You'll be hauled off to the slammer before you can even get out of town," The leader of the group suddenly drew up his attention from the piles of money on the table. His eyes narrowed with fury through the holes in his mask. "You have a lot of mouth for a little girl," he said dangerously. The tone of the man's voice portrayed its message as clearly as if he had said the message word for word. _Careful or you'll be hurt_. Annie and Jenny grew pale at the man's words. Annie grabbed onto Jenny for protection though, it was obvious to both for them that they would need more than that.

The gang leader left his position at the table and walked over to where they were sitting. His presence presented a scary figure and shadow that really intimidated the two teenagers. Werewolves were a pretty good resemblance to the figure he presented. He looked down on the two youngsters, regarding them as weak, foolish and insignificant. Being under the man's shadow seemed to evaporate Annie's last bits of courage she had left.

The man knelt down slowly. His gaze went from Jenny to Annie to Jenny. Finally, his gaze rested fully on Jenny. Jenny was so terrified she didn't even breathe. She prayed the man wouldn't hurt her.

Without warning, the man's hand shot up to her jaw and seized it. Jenny suddenly found herself caught in a jaw-grip. The man was clearly stronger than she was and it seemed like he could rip her mandible bone out of its hinge if he wanted to . "You be quiet or I'll use Mr. Steel to do it for you," he whispered dangerously. He reached for a sheath in his belt and drew out a long stainless steel combat knife. Light glinted off the jagged blade in sharp pins. Raising the blade up to Jenny's cheek, he dragged it lightly across her skin. The sensation made Jenny wince. Being wounded as a mere inch away from her.

Then she heard it. It was a thud, like something heavy landing on concrete. It jerked her to attention even more. At first she thought that maybe she was hearing things, but then she realized that the gang members were looking around as well. Where had that sound come from?

"What was that?" asked one thug, "Is someone trying to mess with us here?"

The man with the combat knife rose from his kneeling position near Jenny and Annie. He now held the knife in a battle-ready grip incase someone tried to mess with him. Annie was wondering just who or what was causing that noise. Was someone coming to their rescue? But how could that be possible? No one had been around when the had been captured by the five bank robbers. How could anyone possibly be coming for herself and Jenny? But maybe she was wrong. She didn't, however, want to get her hopes too high. Chances were they wouldn't make it out of this. At least not without getting hurt.

"Are you sure no one was out there?" asked the gang leader to a thief who was armed with an assault rifle.

"I'm positive," he replied, "I didn't see anyone out there when we snagged these kids and ditched the armored car."

The overhead light bulb in the ceiling suddenly flashed brightly and then burst into dozens of tiny sharp splinters, leaving the room dark.

"Hey what gives here?" one gang member demanded.

"This is too weird, guys," said another, "I say we split."

His words drew the gang leaders attention. Although Annie, couldn't see the man, his words made his emotions clear. "Split? No way, we've been planning this robbery from months now. We're not chickening out right here."

"Jenny," whispered Annie to her friend, "What do we do?"

"I don't know," she replied.

Just then, a faint whisper-like sound reached Annie's ears, followed by a loud thump on the concrete floor.

The robbers' attention perked up instantly. "There's someone in here," the leader stated, "get ready to fire on him if he dares show his face."

The thieves brought up their weapons and got ready to fire.

* * *

Having been armed with heavy weapons as these gangsters were, Simon wouldn't have stood a chance if he was mere flesh and blood. But he wasn't. He was phantom energy and armored shell. He had taken out the overhead light using his power to create crushing stress on the bulb. Now the room was dark, save for some windows of the light that were present resulting from the faint yellow light pouring into room from the street lamps on the corner. 

Ordinarily, Simon wouldn't have been able to see well at all in darkness like this, but in his newly transformed state, he could see as well as if he were in broad daylight. It was almost like a bat's senses. He could tell which red humanoid shapes were the girls and which were the robbers. In fact, all of their features were as distinguishable as if seen by normal human optical organs. The only real difference was that they glowed with a fierce red aura. It was almost like infrared/ultraviolet vision, with purple and white energy color signatures mixed in for more in-depth perception. Stranger still, he could actually feel the people move. Even stranger, he saw people's blood and muscles move in their bodies while he was in his current form, but whenever there was movement, he could feel it, either if it was in the air or the ground. It was like he was totally connected to any movement, sound, or source of heat or energy in his surroundings.

Either way, he was in position and all. Nothing could stop him now. He had to make this as subtle as he possibly could. He had discovered that using his plasma or electricity attacks, could create massive explosions easily. Blasts like those were more than possible. In fact, they were guaranteed. He had to do this without drawing attention. This would basically be a stealth and hit operation. Use small power and armor to keep safe and identity secured.

The quiet thud of his armored feet hitting the floor was his next cue. The thugs heard him hit. Power superiority over machine obsoleteness was about to prove itself one more time.

* * *

"Come on out you freak!" the gang leader shouted angrily, "We know you're in here somewhere!" No response to his demands. 

Annie and Jenny huddled close together hoping that the thugs wouldn't notice them, but they didn't dare try to make any sort of escape attempt. Annie silently prayed that whoever was in the warehouse would take the thugs down.

"Jerry," the gang leader ordered one of his men, "go check out behind that stack of crates will ya?" The man he had called Jerry nodded. He raised his assault rifle and made his way toward a tall wide stack of crates that was at the far side of the room. Slowly, slowly, he approached it, peeing ever so slightly around the corner. Raising his rifle and turning the safety mechanism off, he pounced around the corner. He couldn't see anyone in the shadows behind the crates.

Annie and Jenny were watching the entire scene with frightened eyes. Annie was clutching Jenny tightly, afraid to let her go. She wanted her friend to be close to her. As Annie watched, she noticed something move in the corner of her eye. It was hardly noticeable, but noticeable. It was almost like a small swish the shadows. But then it was gone, as if nothing had been there. I must be going crazy with fear, Annie thought.

Jerry turned his head back to meet the others. "There's no one back here," he said.

One of the others started to back away slightly, as it he was afraid of what was going on. He stopped near another huge pile of old crates.

"Are you sure?" asked the gang leader.

"As sure as I can be," answered Jerry, "It's hard to see anything in this darkness." He turned to look again.

A loud OOOFFFF! made all the gangsters snap around. All of them raised their weapons, ready to fire. What they managed to see made their eyes widen. The one who had backed up against the other pile of crates was lying facedown on the floor, unconscious. Before anyone could recover from the sudden discovery, he was dragged away into the shadows behind the crates, as if by an invisible hand. Within a few seconds, he had vanished from sight.

Annie and Jenny's eyes grew two sizes larger. Something was defiantly going on. Something big. And it scared them to death. This was defiantly something big. Someone was in the warehouse with them. Someone who was amazingly skilled with stealth moves and attacks.

"JOE!" called out the leader of them all. He turned to face the others. "Fan out!" he ordered. The others immediately complied. The began to move away from each other, but reluctantly. Adrenaline was surging through their bodies like water through a pipeline. This was getting bigger and bigger by the second.

A few seconds later, the remaining four thugs had spanned out across the room. All of the robbers had their weapons ready. They were going make sure that whoever was doing this crazy ninja act wasn't going to make it out. One of the thugs disappeared from view behind some tall piles of crates at the far end of the room. The others tended to keep out in the open. Being out in the open would give them an advantage, for the attacker would have to show himself to get close. But then again, it was fairly easy to get close enough without being seen in this darkness.

For a few moments, there was nothing but silence in the big room. Then, without warning, a bright flash of blue light exploded from behind the loading crane on the left-hand side of the room. Everyone's eyes turned to see what was going on. Not a moment too soon they did it. Just as they looked at the direction of the flash, the gang member who had been looking in that location was over five feet in the air and was flying straight towards the wall. From what Annie could tell there were what looked like bright blue lightning bolts snaking over the thug's body like tentacles in a electrical current. The man was flying through the air so quickly that Annie could only glimpse the fact that he was flying as if thrown and the energy before he slammed into the wall he was sailing towards before crashing into it with a hard smack. Then the man fell to the floor unconscious. The force had been so great it had knocked him out cold.

"WHAT THE?" yelled the gang leader.

"LET'S SPLIT GUYS," Jerry called, "This is too weird."

Jerry was about to go on, but his words were interrupted when a swish of color, a glint of light and brilliance leaped out from behind the crane and landed snap dab in the middle of the triangle that was formed by the bodies of the three remaining bank robbers. In the darkness Annie could not see what the shape was, it seemed to be humanoid, but she couldn't be sure. She thought she could see strange blue patterns like glowing crystal. In fact, they actually seemed to pulse to some kind of internal beat. The effect was chilling.

No sooner than the person wearing the flashing colors landed on the floor than the three gunmen started open firing with their guns. All three thugs fired simultaneously. Bullets smashed and crashed into the floor full force, chipping the concrete and sending sparks flying. Annie and Jenny both screamed. Whoever has wearing the eerie pulsing colors was to die right now.

Annie, almost had to cover her eyes from the carnage, but she couldn't find the strength to lift her hands to do the job. She couldn't even move her eyes to look away. Sights like this could paralyze her with fear, as it was right now. To her surprise, the man-shape didn't fall dead to the floor. Instead, it bent its body to one side and cartwheeled toward one of the firing robbers. It moved with a fluidic-like grace, almost like it was built for such movement. Its speed surprised Annie too, it was so quick.

Once it was near the gunman, it stood straight up again. Since Annie was directly behind the thing, she could get a better glimpse of it now. She really did see the body structure of a human now, but nothing else new other than that. The man-thing delivered a swift backhand blow to the thug's head, making his head snap backward. Even before the being finished making that move, it was making another one. It seized the rifle in the robber's hand and threw it away like it was a toy. Even then it made another move. It bent down as quickly as an eye could blink and did a low sweeping kick to the thug's knees from behind, making the masked gangster fall to the floor. A swift kick to the side of the skull put the gangster's lights out.

The two remaining thieves turned their guns on the glowing man-shaped pattern of lines and started firing. Both were certain they would kill this maniac now. The bullets hit their target, but there was no sound of metal puncturing skin into flesh, no sound of blood splashing from the impact. Instead, there were bright sparks flying off the shape as if spark-filled bubbles were popping on its exterior. The shape didn't fall. Didn't even miss a beat.

Since the thing's back was to them, none could see its front. But then, a brightlight suddenly flared, creating a silhouette. It was now confirmed that the shape was a man's, but there was something else too. From what Annie could see, the exterior of the man thing was shiny, for it gleamed under the fierce blue light. In addition, she saw what looked like some sort of horn like crest curving over the top of the thing's skull. Just what was this thing anyway?

Almost like a wheel spinning, the armored, line decorated man swirled around and let loose the source of the blue light. The light was so fierce, Annie had to squint. It looked like he was holding a blue ball of pureenergy, as large as a mini-soccer ball. Annie soon realized that the man was actually throwing the ball of blue energy at one the robbers. The man-thing's aim was perfect. The glowing blue sphere hit the gunman right in the center of the chest. Once it struck, the ball exploded into a cloud of phosphorescent gas and sparks, casting a quick flash of luminance over the entire room. The thug was then off his feet, flying backward from the energy blast momentum. He crashed into an old wooden box resting against the wall. As soon he hit it, Annie could hear the sound of wood breaking and splintering in her ears. The blast had been so strong that it had actually caused the man to break through a wooden box.

Now, only the gang leader remained. "I'm gonna take you down!" he roared at the strange being. Now that the being was facing the leader, Annie could see the front of the creature. She looked at its face and gasped. Where a man's eyes would normally be, she saw two giant glowing eyes, without irises or pupils, flaring a fierce, vivid blue. There appeared to be a glow of the same color in the mouth of the creature, but it seemed to be coming out from the inside of the mouth for some reason. But how was that possible? And those-those, TEETH! Giant fangs like those of a saber-tooth tiger! Sharp and pointed.

The alien-like being kept its gaze on the leader, who had drawn his combat knife. Neither Annie nor Jenny could really see well in the darkened room, but they did see the outline of the knife's jagged blade. Their eyes turned back to the alien to see how he would react.

The gang leader charged at the being with murderous intent. But before he could get any closer, the being let loose twin blue blast beams from his eyes. Theenergy beams flashed with bright energy and light, lighting up the room. They hit the gang leader in the torso, sending him flying back. He slid along the floor with the force of the eye beams. He thumped against the wall and lost consciousness.

Jenny and Annie were both screaming through all this. But theflash from the beams made them scream even louder. They held onto each other, too afraid to look. The stayed that way for a couple of seconds. Annie shut her eyes as tightly as she could. She couldn't do or say anything at all. Her heart thumped in her chest like a hammer on an anvil. She could only guess as to what was to happen next.

Her shoulder shaking brought her out of her frightened trance. "Annie, Annie," she heard Jenny's voice saying. Annie was wondering how Jenny managed to open her eyes. Was this being friendly? Annie somehow found the courage to open her eyes. Slowly, she opened her eyelids. She saw Jenny holding her hand as she opened her eyes. Jenny had a concerned look on her face.

"What happened, Jen?" she asked wearily.

"I don't know," said Jenny, "That weird thing is gone, but all these goons have been taken care of. It was so weird. It was like it vanished into thin air."

"Who was that?" asked Annie.

Jenny only shrugged. She didn't know anymore about that ghost guy than Annie did.

Annie looked around the room. As far as she could tell, all the thugs were down for the count. But she saw no sign of the mysterious being anywhere. She saw the three near them all lying on the floor or some momentum-bashed up crates.

Just then, they heard the sound of police sirens outside. The sound of wheels pulling to a stop and car doors opening and closing reached her ears.

"The police are here," said Jenny, "But how do we break this news to them?"

"Haven't a clue," said Annie.

The doors on the far wall of the warehouse opened and three uniformed police officers stepped inside. They were carrying flashlights and had their guns armed. "Police!" one of them shouted in high authority.

Jenny and Annie walked forward carefully. "Wait. Don't shot. We were hostages," Jenny stammered. One of the officers took in their appearance.

"Are you alright?" he asked, lowering his revolver.

"Yes, but," Annie started to talk, but was cut off.

"Hey Johnson," a female officer called. The officer who had been talking to the girls turned as he heard his name. "Look at that."

The officer had her flashlight on one of the fallen thugs. The officers noticed that he was lying on the floor as if knocked out. Near him was what looked like a rifle, but it was partially melted.

The officers took into the sight for a minute or so. Their expressions looked surprised. The woman officer looked at Jenny and Annie. "What happened here?" she asked. Annie and Jenny exchanged glances. How would they break this out?

* * *

The authorities had arrived. They could take care of things now. Simon's task had been done. Now he had to leave before anyone discovered he was in the warehouse. He couldn't be in the warehouse, or anywhere in the surrounding vicinity. He knew the police would question all who they could to get answers as to why the armed criminals had been brought down so completely. 

The increased speed and durability of his armored mode had allowed him to move undetected. While the intense flash of his eye beams had stunned the two teenage girls, he had quickly slipped away into the next room. They hadn't seen his armored face, which was a good thing. The sight of his face in armored form would terrify anyone who saw it. Simon remembered being terrified the first time he had seen his face while he was in armored form. He had sneaked unnoticed into the next room.

Ever so quietly and ever so quickly, he moved across the warehouse floor to the loading docks on the other side. Even though his armored feet would normally make the loud clanging sound of metal on metal when he walked, his used his abilities to quiet his movements. Now his footsteps were whisper soft.

He carefully maneuvered his way toward the loading docks and out an empty loading door. Stepping off the high dock, he landed on the pavement below. He looked around. Police cars and news vans were arriving and were parked at the main entrance of the warehouse. Officers were talking to each other and holding back those who happened to be attracted to the commotion.

Simon's enhanced hearing picked up the questions of the officers to the two girls he had rescued. Even though he had no distinguishable ears while in his armored form, his hearing increased dramatically. From what he heard, the two were shaken and totally mystified. He listened for a minute. He heard nothing except the mention of strange flashes of light and color and of a weird shape taking down the men. Simon let out a sigh of relief. He hadn't been seen.

Taking a look around to see that no one was near or coming in his direction, Simon moved, to a dark alley nearby. He slipped inside. He had to act quickly to keep his alien-seeming armored form and the strange light concealed as much as possible.

He silently ordered his body to assume its human composition and form. No sooner than he did, when light moved down from his head to his feet, canceling the armored exterior out, leaving his energy composed body in full view. Just as quickly, his body changed and became solid. The immense energy and enhanced strength, speed, agility, and senses faded away. His now solid bones supported him again. His bloodstream reacquired its fluidic structure and flowed through his newly reassembled veins and arteries as it had before. His cells reassembled at an amazing rate. Within a matter of seconds, the change was complete and he looked human again, flesh and blood and not alien in the least sense.

Simon looked around again to see if anyone had noticed his transformation. No one had. Now he had to get out of here as fast as he could. He left the alley and proceeded down the street, heading towards, his house that was not too far off from here.

Simon turned his blond head back towards the warehouse district where the acts had taken place. No one was coming after him and in addition, no one seemed to notice him at all. This was the perfect chance. Simon then hurried off. Since everyone was so distracted by police and reporters that no one noticed the single teenager hurrying away. No one would even know he was there. No one would ask why. He was as good as never being there to begin with.

* * *

Far, far away on the other side of the United States of America, thousands of miles from where Simon Valley had successfully rescued the two teenage girls from certain doom and not having revealed his identity or anything else for that matter other than a few flashes and unavoidable light displays, a signature was detected. 

Deep inside a mansion, in a large, hidden, globe-shaped room, on the outskirts of Bayville, New York, a massive state-of-the art computer system detected the signature of mutant power, brainwaves, and DNA. Through the most expertly crafted circuitry imaginable, the magnificent machine immediately began comparing the signature with the information it had acquired through previous detections, comparing, contrasting, seeing if it matched anything that it had detected before.

On the massive main screen of the computer, the word ALERT appeared in flashing red. "**Alert, Alert**," the computer announced to the current operator in its feminine voice.

**Mutant Signature Detected**

**Location: Moonriver Falls, Southshore County, Washington, U.S.A.**

Professor Charles Francis Xavier sat before the computer in a wheelchair. On his head, he wore a strange looking helmet, wires trailing out of the helmet's circuitry and linking it to the mainframe's system. He looked over the data coming up across the screen in lines, moving at rapid speed, yet he could follow it as easily as a normal person would read a book. Maps came up, scanning programs traveling over a map of the North American continent, zoning in on the location of the signature's origin, narrowing the range of possible location to absolute minimum.

Xavier's intelligent brown eyes never missed a thing. But yet, he was not really using his eyes that much. His telepathy power was hard at work, the helmet on his head enhancing his power many times its normal capacity. The information going the computer, known as Cerebro, went into Professor Xavier's brain.

**Mutant DNA Identification: Positive **

**Extrapolation: Complete **

**Identity: Confirmed**

An image of a nineteen-year old teenager appeared on Cerebro's overhead display, showing a tall boy with gold hair and green eyes. Cerebro then began to both lay out the vital statistics of the boy and speak them out loud.

**Name: Simon Peter Valley**

**Gender: Male**

**Race: Caucasian**

**Nationality: American**

**Age: 19**

**Height: 5' 11"**

**Weight: 150 lbs**

**Hair: Blond**

**Eyes: Green**

**Residence: Moonriver Falls, Washington.**

**Mutation: Primary and secondary of unknown type**

Wait a minute. Unknown? Why was that? Something wasn't right here. That much was clear. And really, there was nothing much to go on it yet either. Cerebro was not analyzing this as it normally did. This called for really in depth research and investigation. The professor focused even more. He had a lot of work to do.


	3. The Newest Form of Transmutation

Greetings to you all! This is the second chapter of "Downfall Blessings and Uprising Legacies" and so far, it looks like there is promise! I really enjoyed writing this chapter, I hope you like it too.

* * *

**CHAPTER 2 **

**The Newest Form of Transmutation**

An owl flew gracefully over the cliffs that over-looked the sea. The sea itself was as black as ink in the late hours of the night. The moon however, presented a brilliant silver-white glow that lit up the landscape that the cliffs lined, providing a faint illumination of the forest and trees.

The nocturnal bird of prey soared effortlessly over the trees at the edge of the cliffs. Its massive eyes and keen ears were in full blast, on the look out for prey, but it saw nothing which it could eat, no sign of animal movement anywhere nearby. No movement came to its eyes. No sound except the wind whistling through the tree reached its ears.

Soaring without the slightest sound, the owl perched itself on the branch of an oak tree. It looked around at its surroundings from the perch. Suddenly, the owl's eyes caught sight of something. There in the distance, some several hundred yards away was a big human structure, over three stories tall and at least several hundred feet in width. Lights were abundant on and in it. Small shapes moved around with great excitement at the base of the mammoth creation. The owl's keens ears heard the sound of shouting and laughing, then something else that it hadn't heard before. Music.

The owl didn't know what was going on, nor did it understand why. But it understood it wasn't safe there for it. This was not natural nature at work here. This was beyond all animal understanding or intelligence.

The owl turned and flew off in the other direction.

* * *

"CANNONBALL!" came a high shout of playfulness and amusement as Kurt Wagner teleported himself right into the air over fifty feet above the pool. Kurt fell straight downward toward the water, his arms, legs, head, and his prehensile tail all tucked and curled so that he was a living cannonball. He hit the water with gravity in full pull on him. Water sprayed in all directions as Kurt's rolled up body hit the water, crating showers of water droplets. 

Several other kids in the pool either moved away or dived under the surface to avoid Kurt's momentum-produced waterfall. People all around laughed.

Kurt's blue-furred face reappeared from under the water, the pool's moisture clinging to this navy blue hair. He had just wiped the water the clung to his face when a big splash of water came crashing down over his head, making his semi-dry fur now soaking wet.

Kurt heard a giggle from behind him that he recognized only too well. He turned to see Kitty Pryde smiling as innocently as an angel at him, the mischief sparkling in her pretty blue eyes. "You've still got to be wary of all who surround you, Kurt," she giggled, "You leave yourself wide open way too much of the time."

Kurt gazed over at the young girl with a twinkle of his own in his golden eyes. Kitty really was girl for surprises, some of them funny, some of them annoying, some of them totally heart-stopping when she used her powers to phase through a person's body to make it look as if he were a ghost, especially while that person slept.

"I'll get you back, Kitty," mocked Kurt, "I juzt need to figure out how."

A second splash of cool water washed over Kurt's head, like water running down a windshield. "Sure you will," mocked Evan Daniels as he swam lazily past Kurt with an over-arm stroke.

Kurt let out a big sigh of being outnumbered on this one. "Iz everyone getting on my case?" he sighed.

He hadn't really said that to anyone in particular, mostly to himself. But he suddenly wished that he hadn't spoken those lines out loud. Out of the corner of his eye, Kurt saw the grinning face of Tabitha Smith coming towards him as she used the breaststroke to swim.

"You asking if anyone's on yer case, Blue?" asked Tabitha, eyes twinkling, "Cause I can sure answer that for ya."

As soon as those words left Tabitha's lips, Kurt felt a pang of caution rise in himself. When Tabitha had that twinkle and grin while looking at him, something usually came his way, something that usually ended with an explosion more often than not. Kurt immediately tried to cover himself up with some sort of excuse before Tabitha did anything that made her live up to her codename.

"No-no-no, Tabitha," stammered Kurt, trying to swim backwards away from her, "I juzt got a little-uh, paranoid iz all." Kurt crossed his fingers, hoping silently that Tabitha would just ease off.

Tabitha just smiled mischievously at Kurt. What came next, fate would have to decide on that one. "Aaaaww, is Blue Cutie paranoid," she did a tisk-tisk thing with her head, "Well Kurt, if you need a big strong girl like me to protect you, you know my number." She laughed at her own lame joke and turned back to what she was doing.

The sigh of relief that escaped Kurt's lips was totally uncontainable. "Vis must be my lucky day, he thought, Boom-Boom didn't do any explosions in my face."

Laughter from nearby in the pool snapped Kurt back to reality. He saw Evan grinning in delight, "You've got one dangerous bodyguard there, Kurt," he chuckled, "You must be losing your touch."

Very funny, Evan," groaned Kurt. Turning his eyes back to Tabitha, he saw Kitty and Amara Aquilla giggling at him. Tabitha winked at them. Kurt felt a little urge to prove himself to them, but he managed to fight it back. But girls could be such a headache sometimes, especially the kind that have mutant powers. A hand clapped Kurt on the shoulder.

Evan smiled at him. "Come on, Kurt, you've gotta let the girls have some fun," he said, "Ladies need to have fun once in a while."

"Ja, I know vhat you mean," said Kurt, "But not too much fun."

"Heard that before," Evan replied, "Say, how 'bout you teleport us both up in the air and we both to a fifty foot double cannonball."

Kurt smiled at the idea. A cannonball act like that would certainly get a lot of people wet. "Let'z do it!"

* * *

Scott Summers took another drink of the soda he held in his hand as he watched Kurt get water washed by Kitty and Tabitha. In spite of himself, he smiled. At least the girls were having fun. And fun was the whole point of this outdoor pool party and it had taken a lot of work to get the professor to allow it. If they were having fun, all was cool. 

"Poor Kurt," Scott sighed, "Having Big Bad Boom-Boom saying that he needs a bodyguard."

"Why don't you go and help him?" asked a gentle, teasing voice from beside Scott. Scott turned his head in the direction of the voice, the voice that sent shivers of delight and love down his spine every time he head it in that tone. There stood Jean Grey.

Even though Scott saw everything in a brilliant red haze because of the ruby-quartz glasses he always had to wear in order to prevent his extremely destructive optic blast beams from raging out of control, he was still stuck by Jean's beauty. He looked at the lovely intelligent green eyes and the sea of shining bright red hair that fell past her shoulders. She was as beautiful as ever. She was smiling.

"Hey, am I an X-Man or am I a bodyguard and supervisor for the younger mutants of this institution?" asked Scott, smirking at his own joke.

Jean giggled in response. "Well, Kurt does look up to you. And besides, you're one of the oldest students here. You might want to set a good example for our younger students," said Jean, gently placing a hand on Scott's shoulder.

If there was one thing Scott couldn't deny about Jean, it was that her words and encouragement was something that he could never ignore. He felt totally powerless against her requests.

Scott arched his eyebrows. "Jean, you just make me want to obey your every command when you sweet talk me like that," he said, smiling and sighing at the same time.

Jean smiled wide at Scott's comment. "I guess underneath all that X-Man captain exterior, you're a good, kind man. Trust me, I know."

Remaining quiet was the only thing Scott could do other than commenting on that. Jean Grey, the X-Men's resident telepath and telekinetic, could tell you the truth about yourself years before you told it to yourself. But Jean was right, Scott did have a soft side to him, despite his stern battle captain mask he wore a lot of the time.

Scott looked back at the pool and at all the younger X-Men swimming or getting food and refreshments from the tables off to the side. Party this and party that, nothing else but that. Jubilation Lee and Bobby Drake were getting punch for each other out of the punch bowl, filing their cups and then moving on to something else to consume. Bobby used his powers of ice and cold to create ice cubes for each of them.

Beyond them, Scott saw several of the same boy, Jamie Madrox. The kid was using his power of self-multiplication to get as much food as he could. Being the kid of the group really took a lot of energy to run on, so Jamie needed all the food he could get to keep up. Sometimes though, the kid tried too hard and usually ended up doubling, tripling, or quadrupling his unintended annoyance. Jamie really needed to get his powers under tight control. One of him accidentally bumped into Rahne Sinclair, who was picking up a handful of potato chips.

"Hey, careful with your times tables, Jamie," she said in her Scottish accented-voice. The Jamie who had done it shrugged with embarrassment.

"Sorry, Rahne," Jamie said sheepishly.

"Look at poor Jamie over there," said Scott, "Being the kid of the group just doesn't cut it."

Jean looked over to where one of Jamie was talking to Rahne. Jean knew what poor Jamie was thinking, even without using her telepathy. But even so, she wouldn't use her powers to invade a person's thoughts without permission unless it was needed. It just wasn't ethical.

"You're right about that, Scott," she asked.

"I think I have a solution, Scott," a new voice came up to them. Kitty revealed her wet petite self standing before them. She had climbed out of the pool and approached them without either Scott or Jean noticing. Once again, she had that innocent smile and look on her face.

Scott arched an eyebrow. "Are you giving me advice, Kitty?" he asked, half-jokingly, "I though it was supposed to be the other way around."

Jean giggled at that remark. "Oh, Scott. Even the young can inspire and advise the older. Isn't that right, Kitty?"

Kitty grinned. "You got it, Jean. Anyway, Scott, I think I know something you don't."

Scott sensed a challenge coming from Kitty. The young X-Man placed his soda down and crossed his arms challengingly. "Oh yeah? What?"

Kitty put a finger on her chin, pretending to be in deep thought. "Well, now, let's see. Oh, I know. You're like the oldest teenage X-Man here right?"

Scott nodded. "Yeah."

"Well, it seems that the younger X-Men, including Kurt and Evan look up to you as a big brother figure. And on top of that, there are lots and lots of younger X-Men. And the way I see it, you need to be a big-brother figure for too many mutants to handle."

"You are so good with the men, Kitty," Tabitha appeared behind Kitty, smiling like she was a know-it-all.

Jean noticed that Kitty's words really seemed to reach Scott. After all, it was true in more ways than one. Scott was the oldest male student at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters and he played a fair amount of influence on the younger members of the team, even those who were less than three years younger than him, Kurt included. And there was no denying that it took a lot of work to live up to that.

Scott moved onto the next part of Kitty's conversation. "So, what are you suggesting?" he asked.

"Well, I think that maybe what we need is another X-Man around here who can sort of be co-big brother with you, someone about your age, with all the basics and all," said Kitty, winking at Jean.

"Well, Kitty, that sure sounds like a pretty good idea," said Jean.

Scott could only shrug and think. He sort of agreed with it and sort of didn't. After all, as the oldest male student at the institute, he was captain in the X-Men and having someone else his age around could bring rivalry. Scott knew that sort of thing happened a fair amount of the time. But then again, it would sort of be easing if someone got half the burden of being a role model figure for the younger mutants. There were times when Scott was just too weighed down by it to do much else other than sit and think.

"Well, if we get a second "Scott Summers" man around here, I hope he's cute," said Tabitha, "I want a senior X-Man with looks, attitude and some mondo-mega mutant powers."

Kitty let out a sigh at Tabitha's words. "You always hope that the new guys have looks, Tabitha."

The mention of powers sort of came to both Scott and Jean's attention. "I'd be careful about wanting a new student with major powers, Tabitha," Jean cautioned, "You never know what they might be."

Tabitha shrugged, "Well, Miss. Jean, the way I figure it, we X-Men don't have a super weapon on our side. We need some mega muscle, we need some mega power, we need a mega mutant!" There was the same old Tabitha. Going on and on about guys was something Tabitha did far too often to be much of a surprise, but this approach to one was new. Scott had never heard her talk about that sort of thing, let alone about wanting a new student, nor had Jean or Kitty.

Scott just decided to get to the point. "What are you saying, Tabitha? Can't you just speak like a normal human being for once instead of your "too-cool" manner?"

Tabitha pretended to be hurt. "Come on, Shades, you got to let a girl have her fun."

Lucky for Scott, his request got through to Kitty. "She's saying that we need a secret weapon like the Brotherhood does."

Jean's eyes widened a little. "What do mean by a secret weapon? We've been training hard and long. What kind of "secret weapon" are you talking about anyway?"

A loud BAMF of sound interrupted Jean's questioning. What followed was a puff of smoke and the pungent aroma of brimstone. Kurt appeared, the water he was soaked with making his fur look a darker blue than when it was dry. He shook a few beads of moisture from his blue hair. "I zhink I can answer that for you," Kurt said, "Vanda."

"You mean the Scarlet Witch?" asked Jean, looking a little surprised.

"Yeah. Remember the first time ve saw her?" asked Kurt, his face, scrunching with the hurt of being beaten by that red-clad Goth.

"I don't think we can forget that night even if we wanted to," said Kitty, cringing at the memory of having Wanda Maximoff, or the Scarlet Witch as she was known, using her awesome Hex powers on the X-Men. She had proved to be too much and the X-Men had been forced to retreat from the mall where she fought them after literally bringing it down on their heads. If there was one thing that was hard for X-Men to take, it was defeat, especially if it was at the hands of a single opponent.

"Well, Kurt, it sure wouldn't hurt having someone like that on the team. The problem is, very few mutants are like Wanda, and on top of that, that mutant would have to be willing to be an X-Man. As the professor has told us before, Wanda's power has a source of strength that was created by a terrible life in an asylum. I can't really think of a mutant with powers like that without a lot of anger fueling them," said Scott

"Ja, I know," said Kurt, "It'z juzt that I vish ve could just even the odds a little."

Scott could only let out a breath at the suggestion. Event he odds. That was what Mystique had done in regards to turning the tide of this war between the side of Xavier and the side of Magneto. Mutants who could single-handedly fight all the X-Men at once to a standstill were few and far between. But as chance would have it, Wanda Maximoff was one of them. In fact, all of the mutants like that that they had so far seen were bad mutants, either evil by nature or too immersed in their own anger, hatred, or suffering to turn good.

"You know guys," Jean said, "Maybe you should stop thinking too much and just relax and enjoy the party."

Jean always had the ability to fix things when they so needed it. Bring the kids back to their party; forget the need for more mutants. "Jean's right guys," Scott said, "You're thinking too much."

Kurt looked to the young captain of the X-Men, "Vell, aren't you an agreeable one," said the blue-furred teenage mutant, "But, you're right, ve vill think more of zhe party." Kurt then turned and did a big cannonball teleport right into the pool. His shockwave splash was sent flying over Sam Guthrie and Ray Crisp, sprinkling the two younger mutants with water. Kitty and Tabitha both shrugged and went over to the table for refreshments.

Scott looked back to Jean, the most beautiful, gentle, kind, caring girl he had ever known. Oh yes, he had fallen for her hard. Jean smiled at him. "This was a wonderful idea, Scott," she said, "Your idea to celebrate spring break sure has gotten everyone into the party mood."

Those words just seemed to make Scott melt in the inside. Praise for Jean was more than enough to make his head swim with pleasure. However, Scott hadn't seen the professor at all ever since last night. In fact, no one except for Mr. McCoy and Ororo Munroe had really seen the professor at all in the past day. Xavier had pretty much been in the Cerebro room ever since midnight the night before. As well as Scott knew the professor, he knew Xavier wouldn't do that unless he had a good reason too. As both the headmaster and founder of the Xavier institute, Charles Xavier was very busy man. But it was unusual for him to be so occupied that no one would see him for more than a day.

Jean noticed that Scott looked to be in deep thought. She couldn't really read his eyes, for they were always hidden by the ruby-quartz glasses he wore, but she had been around him long enough to be able to see other indications at to what he was thinking, without her telepathy if she could help it. "Scott?"

The young man turned to face her. "Yeah, Jean?" he asked, wondering what she had to ask him.

"You seem far away all of a sudden," said Jean, placing a reassuring hand on his shoulder, "Like you were thinking about something. Is something bothering you?"

The corners of Scott's mouth turned up in a slight smile. "Well, Jean, I was just thinking on the at the professor hasn't been around all day. I mean, last night when we all went to bed, he was in Cerebro doing his daily scan for mutants. But no one except Ororo and Mr. McCoy have seen him all day. I'm just wondering what's going on that makes him need to not be available so much."

Jean herself had been wondering about Xavier almost the whole day, but once the party had started, all the fun and excitement had helped her forget it. But now Scott had helped her remember it. "I understand, Scott," she said understandably, "It's not like him to be so occupied, especially with Cerebro. He wouldn't do that unless he had a very good reason to. I'm sure he'll explain it to us all once he's done with it."

"Do you think he's found a new mutant?" Scott suggested.

"I don't know, Scott," said Jean, "Usually he's on Cerebro for less than fifteen minutes when it comes to a new mutant to recruit. He may be just upgrading Cerebro's systems and abilities."

Jean Grey was as wise as she was beautiful. Hearing words like that made Scott question himself as to why he didn't think of those in the first place. But then again, he hadn't really thought about it for long.

Scott took another big gulp of his soda, drinking the last of it. He wiped his lips with the back of his hand to wipe away the coating of pop that had taken up residence there. "You're right, Jean," Scott admitted, "I guess I'm just letting it get to me."

Jean smiled warmly at him. "I think I know why I love you, Scott," she said, smiling so warmly Scott was sure he would die of feeling comforted by that smile. "Why?" he asked, smiling in mock question. Well, half-mock question.

"You care about your team." With that, she brought her lips to his in a loving kiss. Scott felt Jean's love and passion wash over him, enveloping his being with tenderness and caring. Nothing could ever make him melt like the taste and feel of Jean Grey's lips on his own.

Reluctantly, they drew apart. They smiled at each other. Suddenly, Scott saw something in the corner of his eye. He turned to see what it was. It soon turned out to see WHO it was.

It was Rogue. Rogue was over fifty feet away from Jean and Scott, wearing her usual full-body coverage to prevent her skin coming into contact with someone else's to keep her memory and power absorption abilities under control as much as she possibly could. That pretty much meant no swimming in the pool when it was full of people. Doing that, she would touch someone skin-to-skin for sure. So instead, she sat in a pool chair, sipping from a cold bottle of natural spring water.

Rogue was looking at Scott and Jean. Scott realized that she had probably watched their kiss. And the effect it had on her was as plain as the deep purple lipstick and violet eye shadow she wore. Scott could have sworn he saw tears welling in Rogue's green eyes. She looked sad. Rogue was trying to hide it, but she wasn't quite succeeding.

When she realized Scott was looking at her, Rogue turned away, hoping to avoid making eye contact.

The sudden movement she made really made Scott wonder. "What was that about?" Scott asked aloud. But he had a pretty good idea on how she was feeling at the moment.

Jean's voice came to his ears. "I think she's sad, Scott. She's been that way for quite a while."

Turning to Jean again, Scott saw Jean's green eyes had taken a look of thoughtfulness and concern. "Why?" he asked.

Jean looked over that the younger girl, whose mutant powers gave her incredible formidability in the battle, but great handicaps in the social field. "She feels that she can't ever love someone because of her powers. Seeing us kiss reminds her of that."

Scott let out a sigh. "She told me about that once," he explained, "While we were rehearsing the part of Henry for Theater in school, she said that she couldn't get close to anyone."

"I never really knew just how much it hurts her," said Jean, "I feel sorry for her, but there's nothing I can do but comfort her about it."

"If only she could control her powers, she could get close to someone."

"What can we do?" asked Scott. He really wanted to help Rogue, for she had helped him many times, and jean as well. But helping her on something like this was beyond his ability.

"Nothing, I'm afraid," Jean said sadly.

Just then, a new voice came to them. "I admire your concern for Rogue, young Cyclops" said strong, confident woman's voice. Jean and Scott turned to see a tall, beautiful, dark-skinned African woman with long white hair that shimmered like pearl and crystal and penetrating blue eyes filled with wisdom whose color contrasted deeply with her African ancestry. It was none other that Ororo Munroe herself. Once worshiped by a tribe in Africa as an elemental goddess, she was also known as Storm, which suited her perfectly in partnership with her powers to create and control the weather.

"Hi there, Ororo," greeted Jean, "We were just discussing Rogue's feelings."

Ororo raised an eyebrow in question. Scott noticed her reaction, so he chose to elaborate. "Rogue saw me and Jean kiss, and I guess it reminds her of something she can't do."

It took a second of time for Ororo to let that piece of information sink it. But being the intelligent woman who she was, she quickly caught on. "That poor child," she said in reference to Rogue, "I can't imagine how it must feel to not be able to hold someone."

"It's obvious friendship isn't enough," said Scott analytically, "She's been with us ever since the beginning of the last school year, over nine months. She's gotten closer to us, but I guess it isn't enough anymore."

Ororo and Jean looked over to where Rogue was sitting by herself. The girl looked as forlorn as ever. The look on her face was one that could make even the most callous person's eyes water. The look of loneliness and sorrow on the face of a young, beautiful girl who had her whole life ahead of her, yet a life of being distant from society and others. It would take a miracle for Rogue. But what chance of that was there?

* * *

It was too much to look at anyone for Rogue. She just couldn't feel the happiness the others were. With what she was seeing and was reminded of, she was being torn apart. Romance was in the air. She could smell it, taste it, see it, feel it. It was everywhere one looked. At least one who was in Rogue's position. 

Rogue's heart hurt, both from beating too fast and from emotion. She had seen the whole thing unfold with Scott and Jean. Rogue tried to feel happy for them, but she couldn't. Jean and Scott together was the perfect symbol of what she had never had had or ever would have. Loving, kissing each other. It was too much.

Just the thought of love made Rogue's heart hurt and her eyes water. If there was ever a time Rogue had thought that her powers were a curse, now was that time. She could never be able to enjoy the feel of someone stoking her skin lovingly, of holding her face while she relaxed or to kiss her. It would completely drain them, knock them into a coma, like she did with Cody unintentionally.

_What did I do to deserve this_, Rogue thought sadly, _I need to feel it_.

Was her rather defensive and isolated attitude a product of her constant frustration on her disability? Was it possible that her own defense mechanisms were one cause why no one had ever tried to be romantic with her? Maybe so. She had always pushed people away. Always in fear of making friends outside the institute, for only her fellow X-Men knew of her secret and how to avoid it. But what it basically boiled down to was that she could never touch another human being without endangering their health or life.

A few months back, Rogue had found herself grateful that he had such good friends. But now she needed more. She needed someone who harbored feelings for her that were deeper than friendship. But how could someone love her if they didn't touch her? She was trapped by her "gift."

One part of Rogue's sorrow just now was seeing Scott with Jean. Scott Summers. Rogue had found herself attracted to him ever since she first met him. Oh, how strong that attraction had been.

She had always wished that Scott could love her. But it was obvious that his heart belonged to Jean Grey, the incredibly beautiful, incredibly popular Jean Grey. Rogue had been envious of Jean's popularity and beauty almost from the start. Over time, she had sort of accepted it, but still, it hurt from time to time.

They were still friends of course. Both Jean and Scott cared for her a great deal. It was beyond doubt that they did. But still, there was not real romantic love involved. Rogue had pretty much come to terms with the truth that Scott could never be involved romantically with her, but it still hurt her.

Rogue, who was pretty much alone in both worlds, X-Men and human population, would probably have to live with loneliness for the rest of her life. But she doubted that she would ever get used to it.

* * *

Professor Xavier set down the Cerebro helmet and placed a hand to his bald head. He needed a minute or so to get his brain unfrizzled by what he had just been doing. Research, hour after hour of research. The load had taken its toll. 

Ever since the detection of the new mutant, Simon Peter Valley, the night before, Xavier had been doing research on him. There were not that many things in the world that could surprise Professor Xavier. As a mutant, and as a geneticist and headmaster of an entire institute, he was pretty much well aware you had to expect the unexpected. He had encountered many things that most ordinary people would never expect, most of them not of the most pleasant type, many of the unexpected type. And some, of the dangerous and deadly type.

What this latest mutant was was a type of condition that Xavier didn't know where to place. He was intrigued by the results he had gotten from Cerebro and his research. But at the same time, he was disturbed. That part itself was not really new to him at all. In fact, it was something he experienced more often than not when finding a new mutant on Cerebro. Each mutant had their ups and downs, goods and bads, safeties and dangers to them. And those opposites applied to many different areas of a mutant's persona; their powers, their personal lives, their personalities, their beliefs, their ethical and religious backgrounds, the list just went on and on. But in this case two major areas were of chief concern, the powers themselves and the inner personal identity.

Unknown. That was what Cerebro had called this new mutant's mutation. The mutations were of the primary, the mutated start of the mutant's powers, and the secondary, the evolved continuation of the process. But an unknown mutant signature was something that Xavier would not have expected to find on Cerebro. After all, Cerebro was designed to seek out and identify all forms of mutant powers and the varying codes of the X-Gene. But seeing why this Simon Valley was unknown to his state-of-the-art machine was enough to make him wonder just how varied mutant powers were. Or more specifically, what varying levels there were for each general type of power. Apparently there were certain levels to all types of powers, such as the varying classes of super strength, the different levels of bodily transformation, and so on.

Well, apparently Simon Valley had provided a new meaning to the word _transformation_ in a mutant. Many mutants had powers related to metamorphosis in one way or another. But Simon had a type never before seen or recorded. And that power alone gave him a lot of abilities.

Xavier steered his motorized wheelchair down the corridor to the elevator. He needed to let his students and faculty know about this. Despite all the remarkable discoveries Xavier had made, he now was concerned and determined. There was no doubt in his mind he would try to recruit Simon Valley to the X-Men. He was a mutant all right, but one of a kind.

But still, there was no clear reason as to why his powers were so unique in that way. He had an X-Gene, there was no question, but it was different from others. The secondary mutation that Cerebro had pointed out was not the least noticeable indicator to that fact. But there was more to it than that. But he still didn't know what. Or why.

He began preparing what he would tell his students on this new mutant. Hopefully they would recognize the importance of this situation and go along with him. He actually had very little doubt, if any doubt at all, that they would. But when it came to issues like this, one always had to be prepared for the unexpected.

* * *

The party had moved indoors. Evening had come around and the air had already begun to lose the heat it had gained from the sunlight hours of the day. Swimming had proved to be too cool now. They had congregated the main gathering room for some hanging out. 

All the student and instructors, including Mr. McCoy and Logan, had gathered into the main gathering room of the mansion. While Ororo, Hank, and Logan were acting as chaperones for the younger mutants, the rest were buys having a good time and all. All three of the teachers stood together while Scott, Jean, Kitty, Kurt, Rogue, Evan and everyone else had took seats either on the floor or in chairs and sofas.

Logan was not much of a party animal. He had agreed to be a chaperone for this party, but it had been reluctantly. The main reason for that was because some of the kids needed a pretty stiff person to get them to follow rules, and when it came to being stern, Logan was number one on anyone's list of suggestions. "Okay, squirts," Logan called out to be heard over all the commotion that was going on, especially from the new mutants, "I know that yer kinda disappointed that it's too cold out now to go dive and splash, but we can't have ya all turn the mansion into a war zone."

Several of the students groaned, while others simply shrugged, indifferent about Logan's totally unexpected sternness. Logan never really was one for being in a "party animal mood." Needless to say, he was gruff and stern over 99.9 of the time.

"Oh, you never let us have any fun, Badger!" Tabitha playfully remarked. Logan stiffened at the mention of Tabitha's nickname for him. His lips curled over his teeth in a wolf-like visage. He let out a silent growl.

"How many times do I have to remind you, kid?" Logan growled, clearly not pleased at all, "It's Wolverine." Wolverine. That was a real good codename for Logan. When he frowned, he really did look like that fierce carnivorous animal from Canada. Which was another good reason to call him that, for Logan himself was Canadian in nationality.

Kurt and Scott merely shook their heads as Logan and Tabitha conversed. Kurt thought that it was fairly strange. Logan pretty much had nicknames for everyone in the class, regardless of whether they liked them or not. Yet, Logan just didn't tolerate being called anything other than his name or his codename. Whatever the reason was, Kurt never really bothered trying to figure it out. When it came to trying to get something out of Mr. Logan, it was like pulling teeth out of the jaw of a Tyrannosaurus.

Jean and Kitty merely looked at each other and giggled. If there was one thing that those two could do, it was finding laughs in almost any situation, except for sad or angry ones.

Logan then turned back the rest of the students. "Like I said, Kiddies, your spring vacation may be just peeking around the corner, but we have to keep up with our training and teaching if we want to keep up with the Brotherhood."

Those words of Logan's seemed to deflate Tabitha's attitude, as it did with Jubilee and Bobby Drake's. "Aw, I though we got a VACATON at this time of year," Jubilee complained, "This is spring break from school!" Vacation was the key word in that sentence. Most of the younger students were hoping for a real vacation, as in the kind of relaxing and having no worries, no responsibilities and that sort of thing.

Ororo suddenly joined in. There were times when she did some more in-depth explaining where Logan preferred to remain on superficial with his descriptions. Now was one of those times. "You forget, young Jubilee, that we are the X-Men, and as X-Men, you must continue to train so that you are always ready and prepared in the need should arise."

"But, Ms. Monroe, who set that up anyway?" asked Rahne, "Did you plan for us to train all summer?"

Hank McCoy then took over. "No, Rahne. The Professor did. As Headmaster and as founder of the X-Men, it is his job to ensure that you all are able to perform with your best ability each time. And to do that, he says you must train throughout the year. And perhaps, Logan is going to increase the intensity of it, since you won't have a lot of schoolwork or quizzes over the next two weeks."

"But why can't we just have some time off for a change?" asked Bobby, "I mean, we've got a couple of weeks off from school, so I think we should have a break from training as well."

"When yer with the X-Men, Ice Cube," said Logan, "You gotta keep your strength up, yer durability. And to do that, you need your trainin.' The Prof said he wants us to keep training for the next couple of weeks."

The mention of the professor suddenly caught Kitty's attention. As she had heard it, Professor Xavier hadn't been seen since last night. And that was unusual for Xavier. As busy as he usually was, spending an entire day and night out of touch with the rest of the institute was rare for him to do. She finally had a chance to ask her question.

"Mr. McCoy?" Kitty asked.

Hank turned his big, blue face to meet Kitty's eyes. "Yes, Kitty?" he asked gently.

"Where is the professor anyway? He hasn't been around since last night."

The effect that question had on the rest of the student body was instant. Everyone quieted immediately. Almost everyone had noticed that the professor had been busy since the day before. Up until now, no one had really bothered to ask the question, but now that the party was simmering down, it rose to the surface of everyone's curiosity.

Ororo answered Kitty's question. It was noticeable that she too was concerned and wondering about Xavier's activities, which was not something she did too often. "He's been down in Cerebro since he went to work on it last night at 10:00 p.m.," she answered.

Jean's brow furrowed with wonder. The way Ororo said what she had clearly showed her wonder and worry for the professor and the reason for his behavior. "Really? Doing what?" asked Jean.

Before Ororo could answer, a voice came from the doorway. "Coming---," The new voice drew everyone's attention to who possessed it. In the doorway in his wheelchair, sat Xavier. His hands were clasped in front of him in the way he always did when he was distressed or worried about something, in deep thought. His eyes had a deep thoughtful looking to them, not to mention an expression of pent up anxiety and confusion. "-to some decisions," Xavier finished after he sensed all the eyes in the room were on him. The confusion and wonder of the students and instructors flowed over him like a wave of heat with his telepathy to pick it up. There were times when being the headmaster left him in positions like this.

Scott stood up from where he sat. He had the feeling that as leader, he needed to be the one to speak on everyone's behalf. The leader of the X-Men had to do things like that on certain occasions. "You've been working and researching for many hours, Professor," stated Scott in a tone that clearly said, _what's going on_?

Xavier nodded. "Yes, Scott. But I'm afraid that I had to do it."

"What is it that has kept you so occupied, Xavier?" asked Ororo. Everyone's eyes remained fixed on Xavier, for they had never seen him this tense and worried, or better put, mystified.

The professor let out a deep breath. "Logan, Ororo. I need for you to meet in my office. Scott," he continued, motioning towards Scott and the rest of the senior class, "you and rest of the senior students must come as well. Hank, would you be so kind as to watch over the rest of the students for me?"

Hank nodded. "Certainly, Professor."

"Thank you. The ones I have called for, join me in my office." With that, he turned his motorized wheelchair around and steered it away from the room and down the hall towards the elevator that led to his office.

As soon as Xavier left, everyone looked at each other. Everyone seemed to be whispering at once.

"What's up with that?"

"I've never seen him so worked up."

"Could it be trouble?"

"I don't know."

Scott helped Jean to her feet. His mind was in a whirlwind of confusion. Not mention, he was unsettled by Xavier's manner of addressing and how quiet he seemed. "I've never seen the professor like this, Jean."

Jean merely answered. "Let's see what he has to say."

* * *

A few minutes later, Logan, Ororo, Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Rogue, and Evan had gathered in Xavier's study. They all sat on the comfortable couches and chairs that Xavier had placed in his office so that people who he had to talk with could be comfortable when he did. 

Xavier had positioned himself before them in his wheelchair. More than ever he looked like the wise, father figure he was to the students. In fact, he now had the air of a prophet. He almost seemed to be wiser than God himself with the air to him he had now.

Everyone couldn't help but feel tense. They all wanted to hear what Xavier had to say. They weren't sure if it was good news or not, but with the professor's current visage, nothing was certain. Usually, Xavier was good-hearted and warm with his students, cheerful and anxious when they asked him for advice and help with their lives and powers. So when he was grim like this, something big had to be up. Either that or he was very nervous about something, which was in itself unusual.

Xavier began talking. "I am sorry to have pulled you away from your celebration of spring break. But I'm afraid this cannot wait. I have something very important to tell you all." The way he said those words conveyed not room for doubt that something very bothering him to a high degree.

"Professor," Jean spoke up, "You've been working it seems down in Cerebro ever since last night and no one has seen you all day until now. This isn't like you."

"Ja, Professor," Kurt joined in on the conversation, "Vhat is going on here?"

Logan spoke out, "You've had us all pretty concerned, Charles."

Xavier folded his hands over his lap. He wasn't quite sure how he was going to break this news to them, let alone how they would take it. "I am sorry to have concerned you all, but I had to research something on Cerebro as thoroughly as possible. And from what I have learned, we have a mission on our hands."

The word "mission" made everyone's ears perk up.

"What is troubling you so, Professor?" Ororo asked, "Please tell us."

Xavier then began his long-prepared speech. "Last night, at precisely 11:58 p.m., Cerebro detected a mutant signature in Southshore County, Washington. However, the signature was identified as UNKNOWN."

That word had the effect Xavier was thinking it would. Several of the X-Men had mixed looks of confusion and surprise on their faces. "Unknown" was a word that they had rarely hear the professor use in any topic. But the topic they heard it in the least was mutants.

"What's an "unknown" mutant signature?" asked Logan, "That can't be correct, Charles. Cerebro has been able to identify any mutant signature you've ever picked up anywhere."

"It is correct, Logan. Beyond any doubt. As for the signature, I found it highly unusual for that sort of response from Cerebro. I have spent the time since then researching on why it was identified as "unknown." It was for that very reason why I have called you here- to tell you why it was identified as unknown."

Xavier tapped a button on the arm of his chair and a large oil painting of Napoleon Bonaparte slid upward into the wall, revealing a large screen behind it. An image came up on the screen. It was of a boy of nineteen. He looked as tall as Scott, though maybe an inch or two taller with blond hair the tint of a 10 karat gold ring and green eyes. "This is the mutant that gave off that unidentified mutant signature," Xavier continued, "His name is Simon Peter Valley. He lives in Moonriver Falls near the Pacific Coastline of Northern Washington."

Evan looked over the image of the nineteen-year-old on the screen. He had sort of expected him to look inhuman, like some mutants did, maybe having unusual colored hair and eyes, or maybe even inhuman physical forms, like a tail, claws, skin-grafted body armor, or some other weird attribute that could have been possible. But by all appearances, this mutant looked as normal as any human being he had ever seen. He could have easily walked up and down a street or into a store and no one would have the slightest clue that he was a mutant. "Why is he unknown, Prof?" asked Evan, "He looks normal to me."

Evan's question seemed to have a rather unsettling effect on Xavier. Xavier simply placed his hands back on the armrests of his wheelchair and was silent. For a few seconds, he was still as a statue. The Scott, Jean, and the others were starting to get a little concerned. Xavier was never really this quiet or hesitant to explain something to them. He would never try to deceive them or trick them, but there were times when he was secretive, sometimes even manipulative, with people. It was never for personal gain, but there was the irrefutable fact that it was for a reason he thought best if kept out of others' knowledge. Like the time Mystique had posed as Principle Darkholme

What I want to know is what kind of powers are talking about here with this kid," said Logan, suddenly barging in, "If he's anything like the Brotherhood's little miss Scarlet Sorceress then I say 'no way.'"

"You said it, Logan," addd Evan, "Having one big bad powerhouse, either guy or girl, around is my limit.

"Well," said Xavier, "I don't really have a true idea as to why he was called unknown. However, I do have a theory that may explain Cerebro's identifying him as 'unknown.'"

"Which iz?" Kurt asked.

"I believe it's because that he has certain properties about his powers that I have never encountered before. Or rather, he has powers on a level that I haven't seen before in any other mutant," answered Xavier, "At the current stage of development that he is in, he is quite powerful. Not only that, but he also shows rather strong control over his powers, which is something very few teenage mutants have without training.

"Professor," said Kitty, "You're like sounding like you're saying you've seen powers like his before, but yet you haven't. This isn't making any sense.

Xavier could hear the confusion in Kitty's voice. He needed to elaborate.

"Well, to put it simply, let me give you all examples. I'm sure you've seen that several mutants we've encountered have super strength, like Sabertooth, Blob, and Sunspot. And also several mutants have the ability to manipulate a natural occurring element of the cosmos, like Magneto manipulates magnetic fields while Storm manipulates weather."

Everyone nodded.

"Well, you have seen that the strength level between mutants who have superhuman strength varies considerably and the manipulation powers differ just as much, if not more," said Xavier, seeing that they were starting to understand, "Now, in the case of Simon Valley, it's something like that as well."

"But what type of power does he have'" asked Rogue, "Ah mean, weh don't know that about 'em yet."

The professor understood what Rogue was asking. "Well, to put it as simply as I can , Rogue, he is a metamorph."

Metamorph. That word made everyone's ears perk with wonder. But also with fear or anxiety. They knew of only one metamorph around, and that was Mystique, who was far from being the nicest lady around.

"A metamorph?" asked Scott, "You mean like a shape-shifter?"

Xavier shook his head. "Not a shape-shifter, Scott. It has to do with bodily transformation. One of the general fields that I catalogue mutant powers into is the ability to alter their bodily tissues into another substance through transmutation. For some, it's into different flesh, like Mystique does. However, there is also the metamorphic mutant that can transmute his tissue on a subtle level of matter into another form of matter. Bobby Drake for example, transmuates his body on a molecular level when he assumes his ice form."

"So this Simon Valley fits into the category of metamorphic transmutation?" asked Jean.

"Yes. But he has a transformation ability that I've never seen before in a mutant. From the information gathered by Cerebro, he has the ability to morph his body on the subtlest level of existence, the subatomic level."

The others listened carefully. This was getting really interesting.

"He has the ability to transform either his entire body or only a certain portion of his body into a form of living, mutant-exotic, bio-molecular energy, whihc is unlike any form of energy I've encountered. Cerebro detected him firing energyfrom his physical structure as powerful energy beams and disruptive blasts. And apparently, he can also control the effects his energy can induce on a target. For example, he can manipulate his energies so that they cause intense heat, create eletrical charges, strike with concussive force, even create violent explosions by mentally altering their patterns to create the effect he desires. In addition, his energy morphing powers also give him a variety of other abilities. One is that he can also absorb pure raw energy energy into his bio-physical structure and reroute it to amplify his own physical strength and energy powers."

"That dude almost sounds like he's a walking dynamo," said Evan.

"However, you don't yet know the full extent of his powers," said Xavier, "For according to my discoveries from Cerebro, he has also undergone what is called a secondary mutation, which is a rather rare occurrence for a mutant to undergo."

"You mean there's more?" asked Ororo.

"Yes. His secondary mutation gives him the ability to surround his body in it's energy form with some type of living armored carapace exoskeleton. While in his energy form, he produces some type of energy reactions that generate some type of living armor around his body that is composed of an ultra-resilient organic substance that covers his energy-composed body like a shell, which gives him enhanced strength, speed, senses, and reflexes, as well as a very high degree of resistance to physical damage and injury."

Logan head heard enough about this teenage mutant and his powers. He immediately cut in. "Look, Charles, I think we've heard enough about this kid already. Do you really think we should approach him and try to recruit him?"

"He sounds dangerous, Professor," said Kitty, "I don't think it's safe to go near him."

Scott himself thought on that too. He had seen enough to convince him to be cautious. He had seen too many evil mutants in his time, Magneto, the Scarlet Witch, and perhaps others in the near future. He was not prepared to have a third like that. With that though, he barged in. "We have enough dangerous enemies opposing us as it is; Magneto, the Scarlet Witch, not to mention Mystique and the rest of the Brotherhood. Remember how they've beaten us?" asked Scott, trying to make others see what he was getting at, "This dude doesn't sound insanely powerful like the Scarlet Witch is, but as far as I can tell, he sure doesn't sound like a slouch either."

The young field leader looked at everyone around him. Everyone seemed to be thinking on what he had just said, for no one answered right away and appeared to be in deep thought, and were probably coming to the same conclusion. They had all gone up aginast Wanda just days ago and had lost terribly. Not to mention, Magneto and his followers had given them a hard time as well, and if one thing was certain about Magneto other than his intentions of enslaving the rest of the humanity, it was that the X-Men were practically no match for him in a confrontation.

Scott spoke one last sentence to end his little speech. "We can't let this guy join the Brotherhood."

"Scott is right," Xavier said, "We can't risk losing him to Magneto or Mystique. That is why we must take action now. His powers could be extremely destructive under Magneto's hand, but with the proper training, discipline, and guidance, his powers could become extremely strong and very useful to us and our cause."

"What else should we know about him, Professor?" asked Ororo, "What is he like personality-wise."

"Well, Ororo, that is an interesting part of it. From what I have learned on Simon Peter Valley and his character, I believe that it may be risky to approach him with the intention of recruitment. But once we get through to him, he should be easy to talk to and to be convinced to join us."

"Why is that?" asked Jean.

"As far as I can tell, this young man is normally a quite-mannered, self-contained individual. Most of the time he is quiet and composed. However, when he feels threatened or is pushed hard enough, his behavior can become aggressive and in some cases, violent. In addition to that, he is also stern and silent most of the time and trust in others does not come easily to him. But if we approach him in the correct way, convincing him to join us should not be difficult at all."

"I don't see how someone with that kind of character could be easy to recruit, Charles," said Logan, sounding like he didn't believe that last part. Heck, many of the others probably didn't either. How could someone not trust others but still be easy to talk to? "He sounds like he doesn't trust anyone."

"I know that he may sound risky to approach, Logan, but as I said before, if we can get him to listen to us, recruiting him sound not be a problem," said Xavier.

Kurt suddenly cut in. "Vell, I don't know about you guys, but I say, let's do it!"

"Yeah man. He doesn't exactly sound like the social kind, but I'm thinking we could use a little boost in our ranks," said Evan.

"When do you want us to try and recruit him, Xavier?" asked Ororo.

"Tonight."

"Tonight?" asked several of them all at once.

"Yes," Xavier confirmed, "Magneto does not know of Simon Valley yet, but I know that if he learns of the power of Simon's mutant abilities, he may go to any length imaginable to recruit him for his own side. We must act as soon as possible. Since this is a mutant that will need all the encouragement possible to join us, I want all of us to go."

"Professor, you've never taken all of us on a recruiting trip before," Rogue pointed out, sounding a little surprised.

"I know, Rogue. But since we cannot risk losing him to Magneto or Mystique, I want all of you to be with me on this. If he hears about this from all of you, chances are that he may be more easily convinced to come with us."

"Well, that makes sense," said Kitty, "He hears of all the benefit this can give him, the bad news about Magneto, how we can help him, how he can help us and that should be enough."

Logan suddenly stood up. He looked ready to do it now. "Okay, people," he said gruffly, "I think we're wasting valuable time just talking here. If this kid's tricks are as big as I think, we have to get him like yesterday."

"Logan is right. I've said enough. Now we must act. I'll be coming with you on this. Ororo, Logan you will come as model instructors on this mission. Scott, you and the rest of the senior students will come as examples of students and X-Men as well. Since this young man is overly cautious about who he talks to, I believe it best that we do not wear our uniforms. Dress as casually as you would at school." Xavier turned to Logan and Ororo. "Logan, Ororo, prep the Blackbird. The rest of you get ready. We'll be heading for Washington in half an hour. Dismissed."

Everyone immediately got up to leave. Logan and Ororo immediately went to the hanger to get the Blackbird ready for a flight. Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Evan, and Rogue all went to their rooms to change out of their party clothes and into something more casual under Xavier's instructions. Most of the time they would be excited about finding a new member for the team. But this new mutant had them all feeling nervous. But then again, when recruiting someone to be an X-Man, you had to be prepared for anything.

* * *

And so the journey begins. How will it go for the X-men as they try to recruit this new mutant? Stay tuned for later chapters to find out. And remember, REVIEW! I really want to know what you think about my story. Have Fun! 


	4. Visions of the Future

Hi, there you all. Here is the next chapter of my X-Men Evolution fanfic, which I hope you are looking forward to reading. As I said before, I don't own any of the X-Men Evolution Universe or any of what it contains. But the new guy and the events in this story are mine so bear with me and please don't sue.

Here's to my ever so kind reviewers.

**Agent-G**: Thanks for that acknowledgement. I was hoping that new description of his powers and why he was unknown would be better than the TX-Gene approach. However, I really think you should give me time to revel more about him. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate your advice, but I'm well aware of what a character needs to be credible. As for weaknesses, you'll see that he has them. It may not be obvious at first, but if you'll just give me time, you'll see where his flaws are. There will be an explanation for all that, but it will be a few chapters before that happens,so just be patient. As for Kurt and Amanda, I am planning to put those two together in this fic and I plan to have her in the story numerous times. This story's major genre is romance so expect a lot of love in the air down the road!

**Nettlez**: I see a real big fan of my work in you my friend! And that is something I am always thankful to have! Simon will be meeting the X-Men, but it will be a couple of chapters down the road. I've got some chapters in between planned out. You'll probably be intrigued by them I'm guessing!

**Slickboy444**: It's so great to hear from you again my friend! It's so great to see you like my work even though I'm redoing it. Agent-G suggested a few things to me and I saw the logic in them, so I figured I'd redo this work a little. But not to worry! I'll make this as exciting and as great as my last version of this. I was really touched when you described this fic as "kick-ass." Yeah I figured a Jean/Scott fan like you would like the little romantic scene I placed in there. They will be the second biggest couple in this fic. I'm pretty sure you can guess who the main couple will be (wink)! I'm also a very big fan of your work! Your creativity is always intriguing to me! It's a pleasure to support good work like yours!

**Whylime**: So you understood my description of Simon's powers. Good thing too! I'm no expert in physics, but I figured I knew enough about energy to explain Simon's powers. You'll see more of that in a later chapter as to how his powers work. And just in case you're wondering, there are reasons why Simon's energies are different colors. Simon's bag of tricks is full of surprises, some of which the X-Men don't know about yet! Thanks big time!

**Prophecy**: I'm glad you like this! That only drives me to write more! So, you think Rogue and Simon are alike personality-wise then huh? That's what I intended my friend! Any hints as to what that may lead to?

_Author's_ _note_: This story is taking place a few days after the episode "The HeX Factor." "Day of Reckoning" hasn't occurred yet and won't for a while. I need to introduce events that are significant to my storyline before then. Also, Mystique has not taken over and posed as Xavier yet, as you may have already figured out. Jean and Scott have admitted their feelings for each other already as well. I think they did that way too late in the series. Remember, this is an AU, so be wary that things are unfolding differently here than in the actual series. It will be explainedas the story unfolds.

P.S: Also, for those of you who recieved alerts with nothing on the site, I'm sorry about those. I wasn't trying to tease or mock or anything, I just saw some major errors in my chapter and simply had to take it off in order to fix them. I'll be real careful not to do anything like that again!

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**Chapter 3 **

**Visions of the Future**

Darkness was all that was present. Nothing less, nothing more. Just plain darkness, featureless and colorless. But while she was without the power of sight, Irene Addler was far from helpless. Her other senses were always working to compensate for her loss of her eyes. Her eyes were too badly injured to function, damaged beyond repair. She could see no longer. The impenetrable black glasses she always wore and the wrist strap walking cane she always carried with her made her blindness obvious to whoever saw her. But while sight was lost, something else took over.

Irene sat in the hunter green velvet armchair in her living room in her suburban house in the state of Mississippi. It was evening and the sun was still up a fair distance up from where it would sink below the horizon, as the sun was known to do in the summer, which had started just a few days earlier. Nothing new had happened in the past twenty-four hours, just like any other day. A day without sight, and without any involvement from anyone else other than herself.

Of course, a day in the life of Irene Addler never passed without thinking of her foster daughter. Irene thought of Rogue, and of how she had come to be in her care. More than five and a half years ago, a young, disturbed, and frightened young girl was placed in the care of the blind woman. It was all thanks to that old friend of Irene's, Raven Darkholme.

As strange as it may have sounded, Rogue had two foster mothers. Mystique was the first. Irene was the second. It was something that could easily make one ask questions. But while asking the questions may have been easy enough, answering them would be another matter altogether. The answers were for reasons often thought of by most people as totally unreasonable. They were secret answers, answers never meant to be known by anyone. And as Raven's mutant name would suggest, secrecy was perhaps the prime characteristic of her life, both public and inside.

Irene, or Destiny, as she had come to be called, felt a tingle of sorrow and regret as she thought about her foster daughter. She hadn't had any contact with he ever since Mystique had enrolled her at Bayville High School up in New York. Truth be told, Irene knew that that sort of day would come. Mystique had adopted Rogue and had then left her in Irene's care while she was out performing her duties for Magneto. Now that Rogue was no longer in her care, and had also left the Brotherhood to join the X-Men, Irene had less contact with Raven Darkholme than she had in quite a while.

Irene simply sat back in her armchair and relaxed herself. Relaxing in a comfy armchair felt good, but emotion could make even the most comfortable of positions have little to offer where comfort was concerned. At times when she thought of the young teenage girl who she had come to take care of over the past few years, Irene didn't feel very good relaxing at all.

Irene was trying to clear her mind of whatever she didn't want to think about when it happened. As she had experienced so many times, Irene felt her mind go blank, then full to the brim with a sudden burst of thought. Even before the split second that it took was over, she knew what was going on. Her ability to see the future was kicking in. Irene didn't have much control over her future seeing. In fact, she really didn't have any at all. This ability seemed to happen at random with her, as if it had a mind of its own.

Images began to fly though Irene's mind at incredible speeds, moving so quickly that she didn't have to time to distinguish on from another before it all became blurred together. It was like her thoughts were going through the spin cycle of a clothes washing machine.

Irene let out a sudden gasp as the images suddenly came to quick halt and began playing like they were recorded on a tape. Images of the X-Men started to come though. She saw Xavier and his other three instructors as well as his students. Then finally one identity separated from all the others. It was of the girl with the dark auburn hair with a snow-white streak through it, ivory colored skin, deep violet shadowed sea green eyes and a full mouth. Rogue.

Irene grew silent and mindful. She sensed something she hadn't encountered before. It was a new identity. As far as she could tell, it was of a young teenage boy, about a year older than Rogue. Rogue's image suddenly vanished and was replaced by what Irene could only distinguish as the unknown male teenager she was sensed mere seconds before. Irene couldn't sense what his name was, for she hardly ever could tell the name of a new person when she encountered one in her visions. Sometimes she could, but those were few and far between.

But just as quickly, as the images of Rogue and the unidentified teenage boy surged through Irene's mind, flashes of images raced through her mind with breathtaking speed. She could tell from the fast moving images that they were involved in a great many things, most of them terrible. But still, the images were moving so quickly that she couldn't grasp their full meaning that well.

Suddenly, through the steady stream of images, she began to see that unnamed boy again. She still couldn't figure out his name, for her visions revealed no one speaking his name or he himself doing it. She saw a different image of the new boy's face, but this time the new boy's eyes were filled with hatred and aggression that she seldom had even heard of in her life. Then the images changed again and the unknown boy's face was replaced by that of Rogue, who now displayed the same fierce uncontrolled anger and aggression she had seen earlier in the unnamed boy's face.

Seconds later, the images began to move so fast that Irene couldn't keep up with them at all, they moved so quickly. She tried to follow them as best she could, but the stream of visions traveled so fast it became a blur of color. Irene felt her head starting to pound and spin from the strain. She gritted her teeth hard. Droplets of sweat gathered at her hairline. She placed a hand to her head to try to lessen the pain of this overwhelming series of visions. She had never encountered anything like this before.

Suddenly, with such intense suddenness, two images finally came clearly. Irene gasped at the impact of the images stopping so suddenly. She could see Rogue's face, and the boy's. Both of them were in agony. She could see it clearly. Pain filled their faces in the sensation, lines of agony and excruciating misery slashed into their features. Their eyes were screwed as tightly as they could go, their mouths wide open emitting their ear-piercing cries of agony. Irene couldn't see what was causing their pain, no sign of it anywhere. She saw no burns on them, or wounds of any sort. It was like it was their minds that were torturing them. But she couldn't tell.

Then, it all went blank. Rogue's face vanished as the mysterious boy did. All the screams faded to silence and darkness claimed her once more.

Irene fell back into her chair as they images and sounds faded. Such overwhelming visions. Irene couldn't remember a time when she had experienced visions as vivid as that. Irene tried to relax as best she could. It was all she could do to prevent herself from leaping to her feet in surprise.

She tried to shake her head to clear it. Her heart was racing, adrenaline surging through her like heat waves through air. Yet all the feelings were easily suppressed by Irene's concern for her foster daughter. Rogue may not live with her anymore, but she did still care much for her safety. Irene suddenly knew that Rogue was in danger. She was sure of it. And from what she could tell, it was life-threatening danger of the highest degree. And so was that boy she saw.

Irene was still mystified by the appearance of that blond-haired, green-eyed boy. He wasn't Cody, the boy Rogue had first absorbed when her powers first manifested. In fact, Irene couldn't tell he was mutant like Rogue was or if he was a normal human being and she still didn't know his name or anything about him. All she could tell was that he was going to play a major role in her foster daughter's future. And from the looks of it, it was going to be a future with a tragic end, for both Rogue and the unnamed boy.

Irene sighed. She realized she had to make a phone call immediately. She rose out of her chair and went over to the phone. Because she had walked through the house so many times, it was no trouble for her to make her way over the phone without seeing where she was going. In fact, she could have done it without using her cane or anything.

Irene picked up the phone and punched in a number. She heard the ringing on the phone and waited for the person she was calling to pick up.

* * *

Pretty much the only thing that was going through Mystique's mind right now was planning. And not simple planning, but complex planning. It wasn't that anything bad had happened that she wasn't prepared for, but she had to make sure she had plans and fail-safe ideas to keep everything in place. 

Currently, Mystique was actually pleased. More pleased that she had been in a mighty long time to be precise. For one thing, she now had a member of her Brotherhood that was actually worth something on the battlefield. Wanda Maximoff, the Scarlet Witch. The Hex Factor was really what gave her the edge in battle. If anything, Mystique could probably have Wanda fight all her battle for her as a solo Hex spell caster. Nothing wrong with that at all. Well almost nothing. No mutant was perfect, and neither was the conditions they fought under or the reason why they fought to begin with.

Mystique was still very disgusted by how the Brotherhood had preformed against Xavier's team lately. Without the help of the Scarlet Witch, they were next to useless. They had grown soft, flabby, and rusty in terms of capabilities in mutant combat.

Mystique had realized not too long ago that were some obvious reasons for that that she hadn't figured out before. One was that Xavier trained his mutants on a regular daily basis so that they could improve their abilities to their best and iron out all the kinks or flaws that each of his students had. None of the Brotherhood, either Fred, Todd, Lance, or Pietro, had bothered to even consider training. If one flaw was obvious to first glance, it was arrogance and overconfidence.

Another was that most of the X-Men had powers that gave them considerable advantages over the Brotherhood. In almost every case she had seen with the Brotherhood going off against the X-Men, the X-Men's powers seemed to be more favorable than her own team's. That she couldn't do anything about, but she could do something about training. The four male members of her team needed training like a 500-pound ten-year-old would need fat reducing medication. All Wanda needed was more training from Agatha to focus her amazing anger and tortured thoughts into power to fuel her unstoppable Hex powers.

And that was what Mystique was planning on right now. She had to make sure that Wanda was kept under reps. The main reason that she had busted Wanda out that asylum was so she could aid her in defeating the X-Men. She knew all too well why she had been put there in the first place. By her own father when she became too unmanageable. Wanda was undeniably dangerous, but in Mystique's opinion, that was surpassed by the need of a means to overthrow Xavier and his team of peace-seeking mutants. Magneto had not been too pleased to say the least when Mystique had told him of her plan to use Wanda to stop the X-Men. But then he had told Mystique to use her only until the X-Men were out of the way and then he would deal with her himself. That response had mystified Mystique, but she had said nothing about it.

Mystique was still plenty angry at Magneto from not letting her join what he considered the fittest on Asteroid M. She was his right hand employee, by God. If that wasn't enough to be by his side what was? But as angry as Mystique could be, she couldn't really act upon it. Magneto's powers far surpassed her own. He could crush her like a bug if he so desired. He had given her a second chance, but only just. If she stepped out of line too far for a second time, her time as his assistant would be up and gone like yesterday's news.

Mystique sat in her room of the Brotherhood Boarding House. For the past two hours, she had been up here all alone with her thoughts of how to proceed with freshening up the Brotherhood members who were floppy in the combat field and getting Xavier and his students out of the way. And maybe, turn some of them to the Brotherhood.

Thinking about that made her think of her children. Mystique had often wondered if she could turn her own children to the Brotherhood. She had succeeded with one of them in the past, but only for a short time. Her adopted daughter had turned away from her once she saw Mystique's true intentions. That in itself was a big disappointment for Mystique for Rogue had held enormous potential for the Brotherhood. Mystique still cursed the day that Rogue had sided with Xavier. But in truth, she herself was to blame for that. If she just hadn't let her guard down too much, then maybe Rogue would still be with her. But it looked like that she wouldn't come near Mystique if she could avoid it anytime soon.

As for her biological son, Nightcrawler, Mystique reasoned that her chances of him joining the Brotherhood, either willingly or by force, were extremely slim, maybe at a 3 chance at best.

Mystique quickly dismissed that thought though. The Brotherhood was in need of more mutants, but perhaps they could do alright without the help of her children. After all, it might just simply cause some unnecessary friction and trouble in the Brotherhood if she did recruit them. She was about to go out of her room downstairs to check to see how Wanda was doing with Agatha when the phone rang. Mystique rose up from her sitting position on the bed and picked up the phone on her bedside table.

"Hello," Mystique answered.

"Raven," came a voice on the other end that Mystique recognized immediately. It was Irene Addler, a.k.a. Destiny. She hadn't heard that voice for a very long time.

"Irene?" she asked, somewhat surprised by Irene calling.

"Yes, Raven. I needed to call you. Something just came up."

"What's the problem, Irene?" asked Mystique.

"I just had some very troubling visions, Raven. They were about Rogue."

The mention of her adopted daughter's name made Mystique's heart rate quicken. The last time Destiny had a vision about Rogue, it had almost ended in disaster. And the fact that Irene had used the word 'troubling' in her last sentence wasn't reassuring at all either. Mystique immediately knew that something bad was possible.

"What were those visions, Destiny?" asked the blue-skinned woman, "What were they concerning Rogue?"

"I can't quite say for certain," Irene answered, "They were unlike any vision I've experienced before."

Destiny uncertain of her visions? This was getting interesting.

"You're uncertain?" asked Mystique, as if the word was the last one she would choose to use in Irene's regard, which in truth it was, "Every time you've had visions, you've been almost completely certain about them coming to pass. That isn't like you, Irene."

"I assure you, Raven, the message they gave me was strange and unusual. My visions give me probabilities, but this was unusual."

"What was so strange about it, Irene? Is Rogue in danger?" asked Mystique, narrowing her golden eyes in confusion.

"As far as I can tell, she may be in danger of losing her life," came Destiny's answer.

Mystique's heart suddenly skipped a beat. She did care for her adopted daughter to a certain extent, even though that extent varied form day to day. Today and right now, it was leaning more toward the higher level of the spectrum.

"How? Is someone going to try to kill her?' asked Mystique quickly.

"That I don't know. All I saw was her face, and she was screaming and in agony, but I couldn't tell what was causing it or when it would happen."

Mystique fell silent. She scratched her bright red hair with one of her blue-skinned hands. If there was something Mystique hated it was being uncertain about something. Uncertainty was something she had grown to hate and this type of not understanding was almost enough to drive her off the deep end.

"I suppose I'll have to be extra watchful of this event should it happen," said Mystique. She was about to say good-bye when she suddenly had another question. "Did you see anything else in your visions, Irene?"

"Yes I did," Irene replied, "I saw someone who I have never seen before."

The mention of a stranger in Destiny's sights made Mystique's ears perk up with wonder. Usually, Destiny's visions didn't include an unknown individual unless the person played a key role in them. The combination of Rogue in danger of dying and the involvement of someone new was making to tension rise. "Who was that person?" demanded Mystique, unable to keep the demand out of her voice.

"I'm not certain," responded Irene, "It was a boy about Rogue's age, or maybe a year or two older."

"Did you get an image of his face?"

"Yes. He was blond and had green eyes. But that was pretty much all my visions revealed to me about him. I couldn't tell if he was a mutant like Rogue or not. But I did see one thing about him."

"What did you see about this boy?" asked Mystique.

"I saw him suffering and in agony, just like Rogue. As far as I can tell, Raven, he's in danger of dying just like Rogue is. It's almost like their fates are somewhat intertwined."

Irene's words were leaving Mystique mystified, as they usually did. Something was obviously coming up in the future, but what that was was uncertain. Even to Destiny, which was not very encouraging. But the mention of this unnamed boy, however, Mystique found intriguing. From what Irene had said, he was doomed to the same fate that Rogue was. How was this unknown teenager connected to Rogue?

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention, Irene. I'll be sure to keep a close watch on Rogue and for this boy you mentioned. By the way, did your visions tell you his name?" asked the shape-shifter.

"No name came to me," said Irene, "I've told you all that I currently know about him."

Mystique was silent. She would obviously have to watch out for this boy. It was strange though. Was this unnamed teenager the cause of Rogue's pain and suffering and death? Or was it the other way around? Could they be so terrible an influence on each other that they ended up dying because of it? Mystique had many questions about Destiny's visions, but most revolved around the blond-haired teenager that had been mentioned. Possible explanations started to run through Mystique's mind. But one of the biggest questions she had about the strange boy was if he was a mutant or not.

She really wanted to know more, but Irene had given her all the information possible. And the statistics she had given Mystique on the unnamed boy were not much to go on. Fair-haired, green-eyed, nineteen-year-old teenager. That was hardly the amount of information needed to locate anyone in particular. For now, this would have to wait.

"Thank you, Destiny," Mystique said at last, "I will keep a close watch on Rogue and an eye out for that boy you mentioned."

"Thank you, Raven. I'm concerned for her safety," said Irene.

"As am I," said Mystique, "But I find this unnamed boy in your visions a concern. He may be a threat to Rogue."

"I'm still not certain as to what role he plays," said Irene, "But he will play a major role in both your futures. I better go now."

Mystique hung up.

* * *

And that concludes Chapter 3! Chapter 4 will be up soon so stay tuned as more and more stuff unravels. And remember, REVIEW, REVIEW, REVIEW! 


	5. Moonriver Falls, Washington

Howdy, you all! KSimonT-X is back with more fiction for all you loyal fans, readers, writers, and reviewers out there. I'm so glad you all are enjoying this piece of work. As I said before, this fic is a redone version of an old one that had some major glitches in it, and to be honest, I scinerely believe that this version is better. Before I introduce you to my next chapter, here are words for those kind enough to review my work.

**Agent-G**: You're right, there are alot of things in the series that they never really showed or explained that well, Kurt and Amanda, Mesmero's seeing the X-kids, and how Memerso got under Apocolypse's control to name a few. I am hoping to explain away some of those things in this fic. Yeah, Irene never contacting Rogue is confusing. I always assumed that Mystique kept Irene informed about Rogue. Rogue's early life could have been better explained in my opinion.Thank you for that comment on my insight on Mystique! I am going to do sort of an indepth view of alot of characters in this fic, both in the X-Men and their enemies. But there will be a lot of characters in this fic! You'll see what I mean real soon!

**Nettlez**: I'm glad you like this. The suspense is just what I intended. More chapters will be up with a continuation of this new mutant's journey.So stay tuned and let the tension build!

**Silvia Ammons: **I think that after reading your review that you're a Jean/Scott fan! I'm glad of that, cause I am too! That part of Rogue was something I really thought hard on about doing. This story will focus a lot on Rogue, but on a lot of people as well. This fic will include alot of characters that are not original, but not in the series as well! You'll see what I mean in later chapters. Logan is never really a guy for fun, but when he's around these X-kids it can really bring out the good person in him (wink). Your reviews are so warming and encouraing!

**Whylime**: I love to hear from you! I was hoping people would appreciate my in depth dive into Rogue's childhood and past. This is going to be a major Rogue fic as well as an OC fic. But there is going to be lots more than that on the side! I'm goign to be redoing a lot fo the second half of the series, and bring in some more teams, villains, and characters! This fic will be packed to the brim with stuff! Later days!

**Kool-Wolf**: Welcome to my fic, new reader!I see you like this story! I'm update soon!

Also, take time to look at my other fic "In the Eye of the Enemy." If you like alternate universes or stories about what took place after the series, you make like it!

Now, on with the story!

* * *

**Chapter 4 **

**Moonriver Falls, Washington**

The X-Men's jet, the SR-77 Blackbird, was filled with pilots and passengers to the brim. All the seats, both in the cockpit and the passenger's area, were occupied, save a few in the back for extras in case the need arose. But tonight, as the X-Men prepared for a long flight to Washington, all their thoughts revolved around the possibility that perhaps a new person would be flying back to the mansion if all went well. But that, of course, was yet to be seen.

Logan and Ororo sat in the cockpit of the state-of-that-art X-Jet, Xavier beside them at the specially designed consol for him to use in his wheelchair. At Xavier's console, the floor had special locks at the floor where Xavier could latch his wheelchair to the floor to prevent it from wheeling and spinning out of control when the Blackbird was in combat conditions. All the other seats had multiple seatbelts as well, for when an aircraft had as much speed, maneuverability, firepower, steal capability, and resilience as the X-Jet, one had to be sure to have all the safety gear needed to stay put.

At the rear of the front cabin of the plane, the six students sat side by side. Scott with Jean, Kurt with Kitty, and Rogue with Evan. All of them were in their casual civilian attire. No fancy dress-ups. No uniforms. Just plain old everyday clothes that suited each of their own personal likes in style.

"Everybody buckled in?" asked Logan, who sat in the pilot's chair in the cockpit of the Blackbird. All the preps were completed and every system was go. No kinks or glitches in the flight path or anything of the sort. Everything was green-light-go ready.

"Ready," everyone in the back answered simultaneously.

"We're set for takeoff, Logan," said Ororo, "I'm opening the cliff hanger doors now."

At the far end of the runway built into the cliffs behind the mansion, a massive titanium steel alloy door creaked and yawned wide. Water from the waterfall that was normally in front of the door, which was hidden under rack from the cliff itself, parted like a curtain and the path was clear.

The Blackbird turned on the revolving platform it rested on while not in use. After turning a full 180 degrees, the nose of the jet was facing the opening. "Here we go," said Logan, "Fasten yer seatbelts."

Logan placed a strong hand on the propulsion control and pulled back. At the same instant, the Blackbird's engines fired up and started to move towards the opening and the open air space beyond.

As the X-Jet moved, it accelerated, moving faster and faster until it was traveling at speeds in excess of 140 miles per hour. Less than five seconds later, it was out in the air and sailing over the open waters of the sea.

"Everything is looking good, Logan," said Xavier, "Steady."

"Relax, Chuck," Logan smirked with a wolfish smile, "I got everything under control."

Logan's words didn't exactly comfort Evan. "Just as long as you don't crash, Logan."

"What is with ya and flyin', Porcupine?" asked Rogue with a tinge of exasperation, "Ya worry about that every time we go up."

Scott had to agree. Evan had always seemed like the kind of kid who loved a good air-born maneuver, or at least the kind that was preformed on a skateboard. But flying in a steel bird with muscles of steel alloy and engines spouting noise and fire, he seemed a little restless. "Aren't you the kid who always does the wild air acrobatics on the skateboard?" asked Scott.

"On my skateboard I have control. In this here jet I just get to ride while another person is in control."

It suddenly dawned on Scott why Evan felt like a cowboy on his skateboard. Control. That was the key ingredient to high attitude Evan Daniels. As the youngest of the senior X-Men, Evan was still a rebellious teenager with an appetite for adventure and action, which had gotten him into trouble more than once in the past. Especially when that caused him to fall behind in school and training. If there was one thing rebellious teens craved, it was control.

"When yer with the X-Men, Porcupine, you gotta have a little faith in yer instructor," said Logan, "Besides, I haven't been hurt too bad in a crash before." Even as Logan said those words, it could make anyone who knew Logan uneasy. Logan could walk away from almost any crash a plane could throw at him, unlike almost every other person who didn't posses an indestructible adamantium skeleton and mutant healing factor that could heal almost any kind of injury.

Ororo and Xavier carefully monitored the Blackbird's elevation monitors and radar systems. Most everything was going perfectly. One of the things that made the Blackbird more reliable that most other aircraft was that it almost never malfunctioned or short-circuited all by itself. With weekly checks and system upgrades, it was kept in prime condition almost 24/7.

"Ororo?" asked Kitty.

Ororo turned to face Kitty. "Yes?"

"Should we really be taking the Blackbird to Washington? I mean, I've heard there's a lot of airplane traffic there at night."

Ororo was about to answer, but Logan beat her to it. "Not to worry, Half-Pint," he said, "This baby won't be seen by anything. I guarantee it."

"How do ya figure zhat?" asked Kurt.

Logan didn't respond immediately at first. Instead he looked over to Professor Xavier. "Hey, Charles," said Logan, "Shall we give the X-Jet's new gizmo a little test in actual flight?"

Everyone's ears perked at the mention of a new 'gizmo' on the jet. Xavier, on the other hand, only smiled. "I think that would be a fine idea, Logan," the professor responded. He then turned to Ororo. "Ororo, bring the cloaking device online."

"Cloaking device engage," Ororo said as she entered a series of commands into her console. The words "cloaking device" made everyone's eyes look out the windows at the exterior hull of the plane. Just as they did, the black metal hull became sheathed in a heat wave like effect, like it was surrounded by almost invisible water. Then as the field became active, the outside of the blackbird vanished from view entirely, leaving no trace at all that it was even present.

"Vhoa, cool," said Kurt as he watched the X-Jet disappear.

Scott turned to the front. "You never told us this thing had a cloaking device, Professor."

"Well, Scott, me and Hank didn't install it until just two days ago. All spring, I have been thinking of ways to improve the Blackbird's battle and stealth capabilities. This was one of the first things I thought of," said Xavier, smiling at his students.

"Makes the Blackbird invisible to the naked eye, radar, X-ray, and infrared and thermal imaging," said Logan, "So no airport or anything will even know we're up here."

The X-Men SR-77 Blackbird Jet, in normal terms, was a state-of-the-art aircraft designed by Professor Xavier himself with only the finest technology had to offer. An absolute brilliant creation and design of superior speed, maneuverability, range, firepower, resilience, stealth, and tracking capability to all known fighter and attack jets, it was generally a battle/stealth/tracking aircraft designed for extreme combat and for tracking down things that could elude other, more commonly used, tracking equipment and devices. But Xavier always had gone by the notion that no matter how good or advanced something got, there was always room for improvement. His take on the Blackbird was no exception to that. Whenever he thought of something that could improve the Blackbird's performance. Cloaking technology was the latest in Blackbird upgrades.

"So Scott," said Jean, placing her hand over Scott's gently, "Penny for your thoughts?"

Scott looked at Jean. The phrase "penny for your thoughts" coming from a telepath? He almost laughed. "I was just thinking about how to convince this Simon Peter Valley to join us. As team leader, I might have to do the most convincing."

"Just play it as it comes along, Scott," Jean smiled, "you'll do just fine."

There went Jean again. Being both the girl of his dreams and being the conscience that he himself could never have by inner forces.

Scott began to wonder if he was really what a leader should be. In his personal opinion, a leader had to have the best understanding of things of anyone on the team he led, and the most confidence to do the right thing the right way, even though Scott knew from first-hand experience that even leaders could make mistakes. But then again, Scott realized that was probably his perfectionist characteristic kicking in.

"I know how you feel, Scott," said Jean, "We just need to do this like we've done with every other person we've tried to recruit."

"I just fell a little uptight about this new guy, Jean. What if he doesn't agree to come with us willingly?"

"Well, the least we can do is give him the benefit of the doubt."

Scott was lost in his thoughts again. His thoughts were sort of revealing to him just how certain he liked to be in situation like this. Normally, Scott could stand being uncertain to some degree in most situations. Honestly, he knew that most of the time certainty was almost unreal. _I guess I'm more of a perfectionist that I thought_, Scott told himself.

Kitty suddenly jumped in. "Why are you so pessimistic, Scott?" she asked, "I think getting him to join us will be a piece of cake."

Almost on cue, Kurt jumped in as well. "Vell, Kitty, vhat are you going to do? Plead to him vith your puppy dog eyes?" Kitty's innocent looks were almost legendary in the X-Men. Most of them agreed that Kitty had the cutest pair of puppy dog eyes any of them had ever seen. Even Scott had to admit that even he had trouble saying no to Kitty when she gave them that look. Pretty much the only people could fight that off were the Professor and Logan.

Kitty gave Kurt a betrayed look, mockingly. "Hey, it worked before."

"Not on me, Half-Pint," Logan said from the front, a sneer in his voice. Mr. Logan was famous for his blurry and rigid character, which made him not the best person to convince with innocence.

Scott took over again. "Look, Kitty," he said to the petite brunette, "Let's just approach this guy like normal civilized human beings. We treat him honestly and to the point and it's as simple as that."

Kitty looked back to Scott, seeing her own reflection in Scott's ruby quartz glasses. She was about to say something but then thought better of it.

"Man it must be cool to have powers like his," said Evan, who was drumming his fingers on the arm of his chair.

Rogue looked at the young skateboarding mutant. Evan had a knack for seeing things as "cool" in almost any situation. "Ah don't know, Porcupine," she said, shaking her head, "He might not like his powers. Ah know ah didn't."

Evan looked surprised. "What's to hate, Rogue?" he asked, "He's practically the master of energy, a so-called _energy extremist_. I bet he's a dude with a "high and mighty" attitude." That last sentence was said with real distaste. And the others could easily guess why. Evan was thinking of Pietro Maximoff, whose super speed had boosted his ego so high that you couldn't get to the top of it even if you had space shuttle at your disposal. Mutants with high and mighty attitudes was one of the things that the X-Men hated the most, even though there were plenty of other things they hated more.

Rogue merely sighed at that. Maybe Evan was right in his assessment. This Simon Peter Valley had a fair amount of abilities. She knew it was more than possible for someone with that to become high and mighty in their self-proclaiming. Magneto was a real good example of that. So was Xavier's half-brother Juggernaut. Pride in the power. Arrogance in the awesome ability. No sense of equality or reason at all.

Rogue suddenly halted on that thought. They didn't know Simon Valley. Maybe he had good sense. Maybe he wasn't arrogant. But of course there was no way of knowing for he was a stranger to them. As much a stranger as Rogue had once been to them.

That again made Rogue's thoughts shift to something else. Stranger like herself. Rogue still considered herself a stranger to people. And in a way she was. Her powers made her isolated, a danger to approach or touch. Maybe Simon would become less of a stranger than she was.

Rogue could almost picture the new guy at the institute partying with the guys and creating havoc with his powers as Bobby, Ray, and Roberto were famous for. And what's more, he could touch skin to skin unlike her. Rogue suddenly felt the sadness of not being able to touch anyone skin to skin. The scene where Jean and Scott had kissed at the pool party just a while ago. The love, the passion, the emotion, the pain, and helplessness to do anything about it.

Rouge had been assured by many of the students that someday she could control her powers, but right now it seemed she never could. In the past she had tried to feel any sort of connection to her powers, trying to block it with her mind or will power. But nothing had worked. She felt that she could never touch a person ever. She could never know love or the feel of a kiss or skin rub. The greatest of joys were what her powers denied her. But if she couldn't control her mutant abilities, what could she do about it?

* * *

Moonriver Falls looked as busy as ever. He was out for his walks again. This time, he would be out for hours on end. 

Simon was feeling rather restless tonight. He couldn't relax at home with a book, sitting still made his very muscles spasm, and the inside of his house suddenly seemed like a force field. He guessed that nothing was going to help him relax unless he took his nightly walks through the city. And this walk was definitely going to be a very, very long one.

The shops and stores Simon passed were all open, for in this part of town, most of them were open until midnight. The sidewalks were crowded with night shoppers, the streets were crammed to the brim with cars and trucks, and there was no sign of it letting up any time soon.

As he walked, Simon wondered why he was feeling so restless tonight. He just couldn't place his finger on it. He hadn't drunk any soda or coffee all day and his last high sugar take-in had been over seven hours ago at lunchtime. But right now he felt almost as energized as he felt when in his armored form. Well, not that energized, but much more than usual.

Any reason for him feeling like this was uncertain. Why couldn't he understand it? Almost all his life Simon had prided himself in knowing himself inside out and outside in. But when he had first fired those purple lightning bolts years ago, all that pride had pretty much evaporated like water on a stove burner.

He had come to accept the fact that he would never truly understand his powers of the effects they had on him. But he did wish that he could gets some answers somewhere somehow and know what was going on.

As Simon continued on his walk, he suddenly got a feeling that something big was going to happen tonight. Like he was going to see something that was going to change his life forever. At that thought, Simon stopped walked. Was he actually thinking straight? How could he feel that? Nothing interesting had happened to him all day. No sign had been made that something was coming to him.

He stood still for a minute or so leaning against a lamppost. He shook his head. _No_, he thought, _nothing is after me at all_. Simon suddenly realized he was standing still. He legs and joints were practically crying out for him to continue walking.

His feel brought Simon out of his confusion with his sudden feeling of dread. His powers were finally taking a toll on him. He was becoming paranoid. It was the best that could describe his always feeling the need to look over his shoulder to see if anyone was after him.

_I must be gong crazy_, he thought to himself. He started walking down the street again towards the section of town that was on the shore of Lake Nantuck, the shore of which Moonriver Falls was located on.

Despite his walking for the past hour, Simon was feeling more alive than ever. As he pressed on, Simon felt that he was going to be out a long time tonight.

* * *

Professor Charles Xavier looked at the map on the screen in front of him in the Blackbird's cockpit. It showed geological formations and roadmaps on the same picture, highway numbers and the names of towns and cities beside their designated locations, which were shown as red indicator dots on the map. The borderlines of states were to be seen as well, their lines bold and sharp on the screen. The X-Jet's location was indicated by a flashing blue dot on the screen, which was currently over a large evergreen forest located where the state of Idaho met Washington on that borderline. 

The X-Jet had left New York over an hour ago and their destination was now only fifteen minutes away from their current position. Xavier had planed out their landing coordinates carefully and was entering the exact longitude and latitude for the landing site.

The landing location was located in the forests surrounding Moonriver Falls where there was really not a lot of traffic or campers. Once the Blackbird was secured in that location, the cloaking device would be online for as long as the X-Men were away from it. Xavier and the rest of his party would take the X-Van, currently sitting in a bay on the underside of the blackbird, and then use that to locate Simon Valley's house and then it would be straight forward from there.

"We're approaching the Washington State border," said Ororo, "We should be nearing the landing coordinates within fifteen minutes."

"Have any airports or military bases picked up our location, Logan?" asked Xavier.

Logan looked at the screen on the console in front of him. "No, Chuck, no one knows we're here. It's like we're a simple air current."

Meanwhile at the back, Xavier could still hear his students conversing with one another and discussing ways of how to persuade the new recruit to join them at the Institute. He could sense their feelings as well in addition.

He could sense that Scott was uneasy about recruiting someone with not an easy trust in people. To be perfectly honest, this did not surprise Xavier at all. Since Scott had been the first X-Man he had recruited, he had spent the most time with him and knew him the best of almost all his X-Men. In fact, recruiting was perhaps not the best word for Scott's closeness to Xavier. Xavier Knew all about Scott's hard times at that orphanage he had spent the first several years of his life at; being picked on by the older kids, and also the sternness and authority of the orphanage staff. That and being without parents and without his younger brother for as long as ten years could make anyone feel afraid to trust anyone.

Xavier suddenly wondered on Simon Valley's reason for not being able to trust others easily. Xavier had learned of that quality of Simon Valley's personality by going through public records and the like with Cerebro's newly installed hardware that allowed it to access any database, record file, family, personal, and medical history, and current status documents of anyone in the country. But from what he had found, he couldn't tell what caused Simon Valley to act in that way. Xavier knew right from that thought that he would have to know the reason for that eventually if Simon was going to adjust to the X-Man lifestyle if he agreed to join, but he wouldn't pry for it.

Most of the emotions that Xavier picked up from the back seats were of excitement and ideas and conversing of what he may be like. Kurt and Kitty seemed especially excited to see this new mutant, while Evan was sort of wondering of what possible high-and-mighty attitude he may have due to his remarkable mutant abilities. If anything at all, the professor hoped that if Simon Valley joined the Institute, he could get along well enough with his students and faculty.

The thoughts were still running through Xavier's mind as he turned back to the console in front of him. He pressed a blipping button to the right of the screen and the computer map of the state boarder disappeared and a two-sided display replaced it. On the left-hand side was a street and road map of Moonriver Falls, a flashing line following a major highway from a location not shown on the screen and going through a plotted out route to where the line ended on a large red dot where Simon Valley's home was located.

On the right-hand side were several images of mechanical overlays of the X-Jet and the X-Van located in the holding bay. Certain flashing sections of the images indicated that they were being programmed and set to activate and deactivate according to certain commands. The Blackbird's cloaking system was being programmed to immediately activate after it was turned on from a mechanism in the X-Van and the X-Van's files and newly installed tracking computers which allowed it to follow and track the signatures of mutant powers or to scan for mutant brainwave patterns that were downloaded from Cerebro's findings, were being programmed to look for the unique distinctive patterns of Simon Valley's mutant power. With all this new hardware and system upgrades, finding mutants would be made a fair amount easier. This new technology would help narrow the searching area, but it still could not pinpoint the exact location of a target.

"Charles," said Ororo, "We are nearing the landing site."

Ororo's statement made everyone in the back look out the window. They were over a large evergreen forest, the trees and mountains stretching for miles around. There were, however, several stretches of major highways that stretched over the forest landscape. Far below them, was a fairly large clearing in the trees, which the students could easy guess was their site of landing.

"Are we going to land in that clearing, Professor?" asked Jean.

"Yes, Jean. We can't risk exposing the Blackbird by landing in the city. We're going to set down here and go in by means of the X-van. That way we won't seem suspicious."

As Xavier spoke, the X-Jet lowered itself closer and closer to the ground. Finally, within a few minutes, it had landed.

Xavier tapped in a series of commands on his console and the engines died down. A series of commands later, the cloaking system was turned off, the systems were shut down, and the X-Van had been lowered to the ground on the moveable platform it rested on.

"Okay," said Xavier as he turned around in his wheelchair around, "Let's get to work." If anyonewanted to object to Xavier's orders, no would dare. But then again, no one really wanted to object.

* * *

If Moonriver Falls had ever seemed more like a nighttime type of city, Simon could not remember when or how. The moonlight made all the city below shimmer like glass, the people seemed to have a glow of energy to them that they didn't have in the day, and the rate of pedestrians and cars going over the sidewalks and streets seemed to have grown to triple its number in the past hour alone. Nighttime was a time of activity in Moonriver Falls, perhaps more of an activity time than in daylight. Simon's observations and his feeling like he had just been pumped with a storage tank-sized amount of adrenaline only justified that assumption 

Simon was still on his long walk through the city, but his restlessness had not diminished. Not even a little. He still felt like he could walk all night without tiring, which was not something he would really try to do. But if he did want to do that, he probably would. With that type of unneeded energy and not knowing how to get rid of it, Simon could guess he really wouldn't have the type of night's sleep that came from being tired enough to just crash. Usually Simon enjoyed having energy like the type he was having now, but this time he wasn't. He couldn't place his finger on the reason. Maybe it was because he didn't know the reason.

_Maybe I should find more intensive types of exercise_, Simon thought to himself as he continued on his walk.

Simon was walking down a busy street that was several blocks away from Moonriver Falls Harbor. Sometimes, Simon would walk right over to the harbor and watch the late-night ships come an go for a while before continuing on. Tonight he decided he would not make so much as a halt until he was positive he was getting rid of his pent up anxiety.

The thought of anxiety really made his mind tick to work out why he was feeling that. Simon's loner-type of life had made him feel anxious on many occasions, for not knowing exactly what to expect from others. As his mother had often said to him, _you are anxious if you don't know others or know how to interact_. Simon couldn't deny that even if he wanted to. His mother was a physiatrist, by thunder, and how could a nineteen-year-old soon-to-be high school senior who knew almost squat about mental health argue with an expert in that field? Simple question, simple answer. He couldn't.

Simon had often thought of trying to change, but his over-cautious nature of keeping his powers in check and out of sight made him decide not to every single time. He knew no way of how he could be with the norm of the population without the possibility of his powers slipping. His powers were under control a lot of the time, but only because he was always alert and on the look out for trouble. No matter how much he tried to feel in control, he just couldn't. Training himself just didn't cut it. But if he couldn't train himself on how to manage his bizarre powers, what could? It wasn't like he could just walk into an institution that specialized in helping those with eerie powers and ask for a training program. Coming up with that totally crazy idea made Simon chuckle at himself.

Simon came across a bench on the street to relax for a second, if he even could relax. He sat down to gather his thoughts. He stayed there for about ten minutes. However, he couldn't relax. His muscles just ached with the urge to run. Run. Maybe he should try that.

Simon eventually got moving again and walked more and more for what seemed like over an hour. He came to less crowded part of town that was still near the harbor, but it still had some people who were out and about.

Since Moonriver Falls was a large city, there were some new sights to see in this part of downtown. Nothing really that original though. A city was a city was a city. It took a large amount of unexpectedness to surprise Simon Peter Valley.

As Simon came to a sparsely populated street, which he found somewhat unusual regarding all the activity he had seen over the past few hours, he saw a young woman in a sharp leather outfit walking some distance in front of him. Normally, Simon would have continued on with his business without so much as a second thought on the person or their business there. But this time was different, as he saw a taller man in a black leather jacket and leather trousers grab the woman by the shoulders and pull her into an alley nearby. One second was all it took for it to happen, but Simon's sharp green eyes saw the whole thing and translated it into optic signals that made the adrenaline-producing control centers of his brain go haywire.

Another thug picking on those smaller than him. Typical of street bullies and muggers.

Simon considered for a moment just continuing on, but then realized that if he did, he would have to pass by the snatcher and the woman, and if he did that, at least one of them would see him. If the woman saw him, she would probably would call out for help. If the gangster saw him, he would likely try to knock him out or worse, for he wouldn't want any interruptions or witnesses.

Simon looked around for a cop or anyone who had seen the snatch, but no else on the street seemed to have noticed it. In that second of logic, his decision was complete.

He took a minute to consider his options. There was a fair chance of taking out the guy with hand-to-hand confrontation, but Simon disregarded that option. The guy was probably armed with a weapon. A gun or knife possibly. Hands and feet were not really a fair match to those tools.

He needed a better means of aid. Something that would allow him to have an advantage over the thug even if weapons were involved. And he thought of one just as quickly as he made that judgment.

Simon slipped into a nearby alley that was closer than the one the woman had been pulled into.

* * *

The forest roads leading from where the X-Jet lay cloaked and invisible had changed. No more were they large wide roads, nor were the towering evergreen trees covering Washington's vast mountain landscape on the both sides abundant any more. The forests had given way to less dense communities of vegetation, which had then diminished into less and less dense plant ecosystems until finally it was the cityscape of Moonriver Falls. 

Xavier, Logan, Ororo and the X-Men all traveled together in the X-Van, moving along busy and crowded city streets and past shops that were open and brimming with late-night shoppers. Here and there were some homeless people dressed in the tattered rags that some unknown source of old and useless clothing had to offer and there were also those with a gothic air to them, dressed in leather jackets and hairdos that made human skulls look like something thought up in a comic book. But as the X-Men traveled in their van, not dressed in uniform or displaying any of their gifts, they easily passed as ordinary traveling civilians.

"This place doesn't look too different from Bayville," said Jean, "I kind of like it here." She took in the scenery as it passed.

"Ja, but vould you vant to live here?" asked Kurt.

Jean laughed at that statement. "No, but I like comparing other towns to Bayville," she responded.

"This looks more like New York to me," said Evan, "But without, you know, the 'Big Apple' sense to it."

Scott took a look at the city. Evan wasn't too far off in his assessment. But neither was Jean. Moonriver Falls looked like a nice mountain city. It wasn't as large as most other major cities, but it was much more massive that most towns as well. The scenery he observed was not as crowded as New York City was at this time of night. Pretty much every city he knew of had their own individual nightlife levels.

"Are we searching for him right now, Professor," asked Kitty from the back seat of the van.

Xavier was up at the front with Logan and Ororo, facing the windshield, so Kitty couldn't see his face. "Not quite, Kitty," he responded, "We're going to Simon Valley's home first. That's where he is most likely to be right now. Besides, we must let his family know of what our intentions are just like him."

"Where does he live?" asked Scott.

"According to Cerebro, he lives outside city limits with his mother and father. It's kind of out of the way of city life."

"Ah sure wouldn't want to live in this here city," said Rouge. Rogue never really liked crowded public places, cities in particular. "Ah don't blame 'em for living outside the limits."

Jean was thinking more on how they would approach Simon Valley and his family on the subject of going to Bayville and joining the Institute. In Jean's estimation it was very likely, almost certain, that his family knew about his powers. Jean's family knew, for it was for that reason why they turned to Professor Xavier for help in the first place. Being so young then hand having telepathic and telekinetic powers had proved to be rather taxing on Jean. Looking on that, Jean sort of wondered how she could have ever gotten by without Xavier's help. Maybe Simon Valley would feel the same way.

But just as quickly, those thoughts were demolished by what she remembered Xavier telling them about Simon Valley's powers. According to Xavier, Simon had great control over his powers, which logically suggested that perhaps Simon wouldn't need that much help in the field of control. But that thought again gave her another thought. His powers probably were in a control a lot of the time, but it was more than fair to say that he wasn't used to using in extreme combat conditions like the danger room. Soon Jean's thoughts were so filled to the brim with scenarios and possibilities that she simply decided to let it go.

The X-Van continued on toward the Valley Residence. The X-Van, like the X-Jet, was more than a simple vehicle. It had an assortment of weapons and special built-in mechanisms that gave it more than an edge on the road. It had missile launchers, flamethrowers, and many other things as well. But with its carefully painted and designed exterior, it simply looked like a very fancy minivan to anyone who didn't know the true nature of its capabilities. _It would have the anonymity of the X-Men themselves_, as Logan would say.

Finally, over twenty minutes later, Logan, who was driving the van, pulled onto Golden Tree Road, the street that led up to Simon Valley's house. They had passed a variety of scenery on their way. They had gone past trucker bases, warehouses, city streets surrounded by buildings and stores, malls filled with shoppers, restaurants and snack bars. But the neighborhood they were in right now had the air of a friendly peaceful suburb. Here the houses were large, clean, and worked with fine architecture and well-keep lawns and gardens. Most suburbs the X-Men had seen were somewhat less of an image of pure good living. It was clear that the people who lived here either were retired with plenty of prize for it or had high level, high paying jobs that wielded enough money that some could be spent on providing pleasantries in addition to supplying basic needs.

"This is a nice neighborhood," said Scott.

"It's kina like mah home town," said Rogue, "But the houses were not as fancy as this."

Kitty nodded in agreement. "I don't think I've ever seen a neighborhood like this."

Xavier looked through the windshield and out at the houses ahead. He knew what he was looking for. "Where is the house we are looking for, Charles?" asked Ororo.

"I'll know it when I see it, Ororo," Xavier responded, "It should be coming up on the right." The professor looked for signs of the house where Simon Valley lived. He knew what it looked like from the files he had obtained from his research. These houses they were passing were similar to the one where the Valleys lived in but they were too small. Mr. and Mrs. Valley were two of Moonriver Falls' highest earning citizens, and so they had built a house that was luxurious and fancy.

Finally, Xavier spotted the Valley Residence. It stood on a corner of the well-kept neighborhood. It was a large three-story mansion, about half the size of the visible portion of the Xavier mansion. Built of snow-white marble. The windows were lighted up. It had a large circular lawn and was surrounded by a flowerbed filled with orchids, roses, jasmines, and marigolds. The image and address of the house matched that on the display Xavier was reading on the van's display screen.

Xavier pointed to the house. "There it is, Logan," said Xavier.

"I see it," responded Logan.

The others had noticed it as well and leaned forward to see. They had to admit that they were looking at one of the fanciest houses they had seen. The house was still only half as large as the Xavier mansion, but it still made one stop and look to admire its wonderful design and fine garden and lawn. If anything, it really stood out from the other houses, which was probably because the other dwellings on this street were of a certain color or a combination of many, but this house was of pure snow white. If just had the right kind of balcony and pillar formation at its entrance, it could have passed as a mini White House.

The X-Van pulled up into the driveway, which ran around in a circle around a large patch of roses and other flowers, which in turn encircled a small tree.

"Is this guy like rich?" asked Kitty, "He must be loaded to live here."

"His parents have very high-level jobs, Kitty," Xavier responded to Kitty's question, "His father is a geneticist and his mother is a psychiatrist."

"Both his parents are scientists?" asked Kitty, "Cool."

Scott took in the very nice house before his and his friends as they slowly piled out of the van. Scott didn't know any rich teenagers, except his old rival, Duncan Matthews. He remembered seeing Duncan's house last time that arrogant, self-centered Neanderthal version of a high school student had thrown a party. How fancy that house had been. Looking at the white mansion before him, Scott was suddenly reminded of that and his hatred fro Matthews, which had started the very day he had met him.

Truth be told, Scott suddenly thought of the possible scenario here. Fancy house, rich folks, arrogant bastard of a son. That was how it had worked out with Duncan. Could this guy they were after be the same? Scott had to admit, that thinking back to the picture he had seen in Xavier's office, he suddenly realized that Simon Peter Valley looked a little like Duncan Matthews. Scott suddenly felt uneasy: a guy with Duncan Matthews' personality and dangerous mutant energy powers. Talk about a bad combination! It almost made Scott sick to his stomach.

Xavier finally lowered himself on the brick driveway by means of the moveable platform that was attached to the side of the X-Van. The others had already gotten out. Within a few moments, they were walking up the catwalk towards the house's front door.

The doors were atop a small flight of stairs, which made it impossible for Xavier to reach the door in his wheelchair. So instead, he turned to Scott. "Scott, could you ring the doorbell?"

Scott nodded and did so. The group then waited for a few moments. Each of them was feeling mixed feelings on how they were going to break this to their new recruit and his folks. With recruiting new members, things were never easy at all. If fact, it wasn't even fair. Each of them had been through this process before, so it was no surprise that this would be the same. To have your world turned upside down, to discover you're a mutant with powers that must be dealt with, the possibility of the dangers that came with being a mutant. It was so unfair, so totally unfair. Yet it was. And there was nothing to do except to choose to accept it, or run from it as best one could.

The brass doorknob on the door suddenly turned and the door opened. The X-Men saw a man standing there. He looked to be as old as Professor Xavier, and had thick sandy hair and a narrow intelligent face, the face of a man who possessed a lot of knowledge and knew his own opinions without doubt. He looked a little surprised to see the fairly large group of teens accompanied by the three adults, one of them an exotic African woman with blue eyes and white hair.

"Hello?" the man asked politely in excellent English.

Professor Xavier smiled at the man and went into the basic introductions he always used. "Dr. Valley?" he asked.

The man nodded. "Yes."

"Dr. Nicholas Valley?"

He nodded again. "Yes, I'm him," Mr. Valley responded, "What can I do for you?"

"I'm Professor Charles Xavier. I was hoping that I could talk to you about your son," said Xavier.

Mr. Valley's brow furrowed at the mention of his son. "Oh, I'm sorry, my son isn't here at the moment. Is there something wrong? Are you from his school?"

"No," said Xavier, "We're here about something different. "

Mr. Valley's brow furrowed a little. Xavier could tell he was confused about this. Lots of times in the past, he had always been regarded this way when trying to recruit someone. Most of the time people were able to see his good intentions and managed to look past it and everything. But this time was unusual, for he had his entire senior class with him, which was something he almost never did on recruitment missions.

"I'm afraid I don't understand," Mr. Valley replied.

Suddenly Jean stepped forward. She was often the best one with good greeting skills and this required that hugely. "May I, Professor?" she asked. Xavier nodded to her so she went on. "Its about your son's powers."

That made it happen. The mention of his son and power in the same sentence made Mr. Valley's eyes widen in surprise. "What did you say?" he asked, suddenly sounding a little tense.

"We were hoping to speak to you about your son's powers and how we may be able to help him," said Jean in the calmest most reassuring voice she could produce.

Suddenly, Mr. Valley was pouring out questions. "What do you want with that? Who are you? And how do you know about that?" he asked quickly.

The X-Men exchanged glances. This was not starting off well. They had met the father of their hopefully newest recruit and were already being questioned. This wasn't great, but not unexpected either.

Xavier was about to respond to Mr. Valley when the teens and adults heard a new voice behind them. "What is it, Nick?" came a woman's voice from behind Dr. Valley's back. The man turned around to face the owner of the voice.

Scott and Jean looked through the door, as did all the other X-Men, to see a tall, slender, titain-haired woman standing inside the house.

"We have some visitors, Hillary," said Mr. Valley, "They're asking about Simon."

Mrs. Valley stepped out on the steps to get a view of the people who her husband had said had an interest in Simon. She was somewhat surprised to see the small group at their front door.

"Hello?" she asked.

Mr. Valley suddenly jumped in again, "How do you know about Simon's powers?"

Mrs. Valley eyebrows arched at the sound of that, but she then threw it aside. She knew she had to meet these people and understand their intentions. "Wait, Nick," she said, trying to calm her husband down, "Let's not get too excited. Let's hear what they have to say."

Mr. Valley started to simmer down a little.

Mrs. Valley turned to face the professor. "I'm sorry about that," she said kindly, "but I do think we must know who you are first."

Xavier smiled slightly. "I'm Professor Charles Xavier, Mrs. Valley. These two are Logan and Ororo Monroe," he motioned to Logan and Ororo. Logan merely nodded, for he never was one for friendly greeting. Ororo, on the other, hand smiled. "And these six teenagers are some of my students." Xavier motioned to Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Evan, and Rogue.

"You're a teacher?" asked Mrs. Valley.

Xavier nodded to her. "Yes, I'm the headmaster of a school for gifted youngsters, like your son."

Mr. and Mrs. Valley exchanged looks, traces of confusion and tension in their eyes. "What do you mean 'like our son'," she asked again, "We're not quite sure what you mean."

"Mrs. Valley?" Jean asked, stepping forward.

Mrs. Valley turned to face the red-haired girl. "Yes, Dear?"

"We were hoping if we could come inside and discuss this with you and your husband. We'll gladly answer any questions you may have."

Mrs. Valley turned back to her husband, who was now calm and steady. "I think that sounds reasonable," he said.

Mrs. Valley turned back to the group. "Certainly. Come in,' she said, motioning in the door with her hand.

"Thank you," said Xavier, smiling.

"Do you need help?" Mr. Valley asked Xavier. But Xavier simply shook his head and smiled.

"No need," he said kindly. He motioned to Jean. The young woman placed her hands to her head and suddenly Xavier's chair was lifted into the air as if by invisible means and placed at the top of the steps. At the sight of that being done, Mr. and Mrs. Valley's eyes widened.

"Don't worry," said Xavier, "We'll explain everything to you."

The shock in the Valleys' eyes lessened a little. And they nodded again. "Yes. Come in, come in."

The rest of the group followed inside. Xavier already knew a lot of explaining was about to be at hand.

* * *

That's the next chapter. The journey continues for the X-Men. I now a few of you are anxious for the X-men to meet Simon, but don't worry, that's only two chapters away! the tension will build and the action will blast! Just be patient! I need reviews to stay alive! Review! Please! 


	6. Questions Asked, Answers Provided

HI there, everyone. It's me KSimonT-X and here I am with the next chapter of my story. I want to thank all of you who have read my work and reviewed. It really touches me to hear praise and comments from you all. It really drives me to work on my story. Let me respond to those who reviewed my last chapter. I decided, after some thought, that the last version of this chapter was a little sappy, so I think this is a more realistic approach to a recruitng conversation.

Now, on with the story!

* * *

**Chapter 5 **

**Questions asked, Answers Provided**

The interior of the mansion was quite remarkable to behold as Mr. and Mrs. Valley allowed the nine visitors to enter. The front hallway of the large house was big and tall, white walls and ceiling, a black and white tiled floor, oil paintings and expensive vases and glassware resting on exquisite rose and cherry wood tables, and a large crystal chandelier hanging from the ceiling and filling the room with prism-like speckles of rainbow-colored light. The young X-Men took a minute to take in the expensively furnished home. This reminded them of what the Xavier mansion was like.

"This is a very nice house," said Kitty as she took in the sight of the indoors.

"Thank you, dear," said Mrs. Valley, "Me and Nick like to have sort of a fashionable styling to our house."

"Well, I must say your taste for indoor arrangement is truly good," said Xavier.

"Thank you, Professor," said Mr. Valley, "Why do you all come into the living room. There's plenty of room for all of us to sit down and be comfortable."

Mr. Valley led the group into a large and richly furnished living room with fine furniture and rich carpeting. There was a large marble bust of George Washington in a small display crevice in the wall, which was filed with bookshelves and such. The room also had paintings on the walls and a large black grand piano in one corner.

The two Valleys proceeded to two large armchairs near a large table in the center of the room, as Logan and Ororo also took two empty chairs near them. The remaining six teens, each took up seats on both of the two sofas in the room, Kurt, Kitty, and Rogue on one and Scott, Jean, and Evan on the other. Professor Xavier, being paralyzed from the waist down and requiring to use a wheelchair all the time, had no need for a seat, so instead, he simply steered his wheelchair over to where he could be like the center of talk and attention, which was where he had to be since he had a lot of explaining to do.

Unsure of how to open a conversation like this one, Mr. Valley simply started talking, even though he wasn't even sure how to do that part of it either. "So Professor," he said to Xavier, "Would you mind telling us just what it is with our son's powers?"

Xavier only smiled at Mr. Valley's request. "Certainly, Mr. Valley. I suppose that you're wondering just how your son got the powers he possesses?"

Mr. and Mrs. Valley both nodded. Xavier could sense their tension and anxiety with his telepathy. Even though Xavier could turn his telepathy on and off like a light switch, his ability was so powerful that he always sensed a person's feelings whenever he was around them, even when he wasn't intentionally probing their minds.

"Well, before I answer that question, I must tell you about us a little first. The details are rather complicated."

"We're all ears, Professor," said Mrs. Valley, "Both us and Simon have been struggling with that question for years and it's been literally eating us up from frustration of not knowing. Can you really give us the truth behind his 'abilities'?"

The look on Mrs. Valley's face was that of a concerned mother for her son. He had seen that face before, in the faces of the parents of his students whenever he went to recruit a new student. Elaine Grey with Jean, Terri Pryde with Kitty, and Vivian Daniels with Evan were only a few of those. But this was the face of one who had been living with the unanswered question for a long time. And even though he had no idea as to how long, he could sense it had been long enough to leave an imprinting mark.

"Mrs. Valley," Ororo suddenly barged in, "You really mustn't worry about this. We're here to answer all the questions you have. Plus, we're also here to help your son, and you as well."

Mrs. Valley looked at Ororo. Seeing the sincerity in her eyes, she nodded. Looking back to Xavier, she waited for him to go on.

"When I was a young boy," Xavier told the Valley's, "I discovered that I was different from other people. I discovered that I could read the thoughts of others, project my thoughts into other people's minds, project psychic blasts, and even control minds to a limited degree. I realized that I had the power of telepathy." All the students were listening with fascination. Even though they had heard this story many times before, it still made them quiet with fascination, for it was the very thing that had started their lives as X-Men mutant warriors. But for Mr. and Mrs. Valley, this was all new information, and the looks in their eyes told everyone how astounded they were.

"As I got older, I became a scientist and went into genetics and biology," Xavier went on, "I spent years studying and researching the cause of my "gift," as I call it, until I discovered that it was caused by a genetic mutation anomaly called the 'X-gene.'"

"Are you saying that our son's powers are genetic?" asked Mr. Valley, looking a little caught off guard by the revelation.

"Yes, he's a mutant, like me, Ororo, Logan, and my students. The next step in evolution for our species."

"Amazing," said Mr. Valley, "I've never heard of anything like that in all my years as a geneticist. There have been many theories about certain genetic anomalies could emerge int eh human gene pool, or the possibility of genetic supermen created through genetic engineering. But I never thought it could go like that."

"The fact that mutants walk the Earth has been kept anonymous for a long time," said Xavier, "I have reasoned with great care that the norm of the human population is not ready to know this."

"I can understand that," said Mrs. Valley, "I can imagine just what would happen if the public knew about this."

The students exchanged glances at this conversation. They had been warned time and time again about what the possible consequences of mutants made public could be. It made them shudder when they thought of it.

"Just what are the powers of a mutant?" asked Mr. Valley.

"Each mutant has unique powers," Xavier explained, "The nature of the X-gene is chaotic, and so there is no real way of knowing what the powers related to it are. The variety of powers that the X-gene produces is enormous indeed."

Xavier continued to introduce the X-Men and give detailed insight on their powers, so over the next fifteen minutes the X-Men continued to show the Valley's their gifts and discuss how Xavier had helped them with controlling and improving their skills with them. The Valley's asked a variety of questions, like how the X-gene had emerged to begin with, how a person might get it, and how the powers of a mutant developed, and sometimes evolved, with age.

After while however, Mrs. Valley asked another question. "Professor, just how did you find out about Simon's powers in the first place? Did you hear about it on the news or something?"

Ororo and Logan seemed interested in that particular question. "Are you saying that people saw him using his powers?" asked Ororo.

The six teens suddenly exchanged glances with each other. The had the feeling that if someone saw a seemingly normal human throwing energy or disappearing, mutant secrecy would be a thing of the past.

Mr. Valley shook his head. "No, Ms. Monroe," he said, "Last night, he saved two local girls from bank robbers in the city. But no one knew that it was him."

"When did that occur?" asked Xavier.

"It was around midnight," said Mr. Valley, "Or at least that was when the reporters say it happened."

"So it was on public television?" asked Scott.

"Yes. In fact, we recorded the report," said Mr. Valley.

"Is there anyway you could show us this recording?" asked Ororo, "I think we'd like to know for certain if he wasn't seen by the public." She looked to Xavier as she said the sentence.

"Yes, I think it would be good if we saw it as well," said Xavier.

"Let me get it ready," Mrs. Valley walked over to a large TV screen on one of the walls of the room and turned it on, revealing snow and static on the large screen. She reached down to the VCR/DVD combo seated in a special shelf underneath.

"Were you upset at Simon for using his powers like that?" asked Scott.

Mr. Valley shook his head in denial. "I wasn't upset, no. But I was however concerned about him. He used his powers like that for a good reason. I didn't blame him for doing it. But I was worried about how it might affect things around here."

"If what you say is true, Mr. Valley," said Xavier, "I do not blame him either. His motives were admirable, but we really can't let his activities risk exposing us to the world."

"I understand, Professor," said Mr. Valley, "But my son has always tried to do the right thing in every aspect of his life ever since he discovered he had powers. He's thought about it so much that it's kind of become an obsession to him. He thinks and thinks, but he just ends up wearing himself out trying to decide what's right and wrong."

"One of the things we can offer Simon is guidance on that," said Jean, "It's what we've all learned from Professor Xavier, even though some have needed to learn it more than others." She gave Evan a knowing look. Ororo noticed that and couldn't help but chuckle, remembering the rather annoying problems they had had with trying to get her hard-headed nephew to understand the consequences of his power usage, which he was still trying to accomplish, for he still couldn't stretch in the morning without firing a few marrow missiles unintentionally.

"It's ready," came Mrs. Valley's voice. The group turned to face the very large television set in the wall. Some of them had to turn their chairs completely around in order to be facing the right way. Mrs. Valley pressed the PLAY button and a few seconds later the static on the screen was replaced by a clear recording.

A large image of the Channel 4 News icon suddenly appeared on the screen and then the unseen TV announcer began speaking. "_Tonight, on Channel 4 News, a Moonriver Falls bank robbery foiled by means unknown_." The image then changed to showing a reporter with news reports and a news image in the background. "_Hi_," the announcer spoke to the audience, "_I'm Steven Campbell. Earlier this evening a group of armed bank robbers robbed the Moonriver Falls National Back of over 50,000 dollars in cash and fled the crime scene in an armored vehicle before police arrived. Police then searched the surrounding area for the armed suspects to locate their armored escape vehicle near an old warehouse. Upon arriving on the scene, the police discovered that the suspects had taken two teenage girls hostage. But reports have said that the suspects were found unconscious and defeated when officers arrived_." The screen changed again to show a scene inside the warehouse, at least that was what the X-Men took it to be. Xavier had his fingers stapled under his chin, for he saw where this was heading, and he didn't really like what he saw. What came up next on the screen made all the people in the room freeze.

They saw the bodies of several masked men on the screen, two lying on the floor, another atop on wooden crate that looked like 700 pounds of bricks had been dropped onto it from above. The picture also showed that smoke was in the room, for lights were on and their beams were clearly to be seen. The police were carefully examining the bodies of the robbers.

"_Upon arriving at the warehouse_," the announcer spoke, "_The officers found all the thieves unconscious having sustains suspicious minor injuries. All of them showed bruising on a large area of their bodies due to what is believed to be concussive force, while one was reported to have sustained minor second-degree burns that were later identified as electrical burning of the flesh. But most mysteriously is this alarming piece of evidence that the police found at the scene_."

The next picture on the screen showed two firearms, a magnum desert eagle and an assault rifle, but the metal of both guns was out of shape. The magnum's barrel was completely gone, the metal edges of the damage were ripped and torn. The assault rifle's long barrel was bent a full ninety degrees downward from it's original position and the ammunition clip looked like it was partly dissolved, like melting black ice cream that had been left to melt halfway and had then been refrozen.

"_This two highly damaged weapons suggest that some extreme type of force was involved_." Logan growled a little, for he didn't like this at all. "_Police are still baffled by the bizarre nature of the damage to these weapons and the cause of this has been determined as 'unknown.' But one of the suspects' hostages has a rather unusual explanation_."

The picture shifted to show a young teenage girl with long brown hair. She looked rather scared and confused, as if she was not prepared to say what she really wanted to. At the bottom of the screen it read, 'Annie Howardson, Hostage/Eyewitness.' "_It was the strangest thing_," she said to the camera, "_It just appeared out of nowhere. It was like a man, but it wasn't a man. It had some sort of weird shiny surface all over it, and it was all covered with these weird patterns that were like neon light signs. And it threw all sorts of strange light flashes at the burglars. And it moved faster than I could see. It was almost like a ghost or something come to life_."

The words leaving the girls' mouth on the screen fit what the young X-Men and instructors remembered hearing about the powers of this new recruit. They remembered Xavier telling them of abilities to fire energy blasts and some sort of body armor. If what the girl was describing was not their latest recruit, then there was no telling what it was exactly.

"I don't like this, Jean," said Scott, "This guy might be exposing mutants."

All Jean could do was to look back at Scott. She wanted to say something about all this, but she found that she could not. These were definitely displays of mutant power that they were hearing of from the eyewitness, but then again, there was no mention of it being a human from the girl. After all, a being with a shiny outer layer decorated with pulsating light patterns would surely not pass for a normal person unless there was some distinguishable feature that said otherwise.

"_No, I wasn't high_!" the suddenly snapping of the girl made a lot of people jump a little from surprise. The girl on the screen looked angry now. "_You people calling me a liar? I saw this with my own eyes. Me and my friend were saved and those thugs were stopped! That's no lie!"_ With that, the scene ended. The screen then went back to the announcer.

"_And there you have it_," said the man, "_Several armed robbers stopped by means unknown, two girls rescued from certain doom, and the claim that an unidentifiable force was involved. Police are still questioning these two girls for more details. What is the cause of all this mysterious tension? That remains to be seen. We'll be back with more on Channel 4 News in just a moment_." With that, the screen went to commercials. Mrs. Valley stopped the tape.

She turned back to face her husband and guests. "Me and Nick both know that it was Simon that did that," she explained as if she was expecting them to ask her that, her face blank, "He openly admitted to it."

Xavier looked at her and let out a sigh. "I take it that this was how you found out about Simon's powers?" asked Mr. Valley, looking more concerned than neutral.

Xavier shook his head. "No, I found out by other means, which I must keep anonymous if you understand." Mr. and Mrs. Valley couldn't ask more on that, for they realized how anonymous life as a mutant would be if you lived at an institute for mutants. But neither said a word.

"Has anyone approached you about this other than us since this happened?" asked the professor.

"No, no one has even mentioned it to us outside our family. But we've been afraid that someone might," said Mrs. Valley, concern sketched into her face.

"Was that kid of yer's tryin' to play hero or something?" asked Logan, a deep frown slashed into his features. If there was one thing Logan didn't approve of, which was a list far too long to say, it was mutants going around flaunting their powers.

"Logan," Kitty suddenly protested, "He saved two girls and stopped a group of armed robbers. What's so wrong about that?"

"Kitty," said Ororo gently, "he may have meant well, but he was probably not thinking of how is actions might affect the public."

"Ororo is right," said Xavier, "we are fortunate that this time no one knew it was him and the true cause was not realized. But he really can't be allowed to use his powers openly."

"You don't allow the students at your institute to do that, do you?" said Mr. Valley, more in a statement form than that of a question.

"No. The public is just not ready to know about us yet. Use of powers in view of the public simply puts our secrecy at great risk. But the risk is especially high if our identities are known as well," said Xavier.

The images of the news recording still hung fresh in the mind of the Jean Grey. With what she had seen it was clear that extreme force had been used to stop the robbers and as for the handy work with the weapons, only strength beyond that of a conventional human and extreme heat could have accounted to the damage. It would take a very, very hot heat source to melt the steel making up a gun, and if any tool, like a welding torch or laser cutter had been used, surely the news would have reported it, or at least the girl would have admitted it. But there had been none, so there was more than reason to believe that mutant power had been used. Plus, she remembered Xavier's telling them of this new mutant generating extreme thermal energy, which was probably the same thermal attack that had melted the gun she had seen, not to mention the kinetic and electrical attacks, which could account for the dented boxes they had seen and the report of electrical burning.

"So where does that leave us?" asked Mrs. Valley.

Xavier really had to get to the important details know. He had pretty much shown Simon's parents the first stair of the flight and now it was time to show them the rest of the way.

"I believe that now I should tell you why about us and why we are here," said Xavier.

Mrs. Valley looked at her husband, who returned the look. Even without using his telepathy, Xavier knew what they were thinking. "Yes, Professor. We would like to know about this school that you run."

Now came the really big part. "I run a school for gifted youngsters. Youngsters who have abilities that other people don't have. I believe you know what I am referring to."

"You must mean the "powers" that Simon has," said Mr. Valley, "Do all your students have powers like that?"

"Yes, as do my instructors here, Logan and Ororo," Xavier motioned to the gruff, beefy man and tall dark-skinned woman who were sitting nearby. "All my students have abilities that are the results of X-gene. I created the institute where we all live for the purpose of bringing young mutants together and to help them with their powers. I train them to use their powers responsibly and for the betterment of mankind. I also provide them with education and resources."

Scott could see Mr. and Mrs. Valley thinking all this over with great care. He could see that their nervousness was diminishing as they heard about what Xavier had to offer, nut there was still tension and uncertainty in their eyes. He couldn't tell if it was being over-whelmed by all this news and information, or perhaps maybe of how they felt now that they knew the truth about Simon. He remembered seeing ho desperate Jean's parents were when he had seen Jean Grey fro the first time. They had been frantic. They were practically overwhelmed by concern for their daughter. These folks didn't seem to be desperate, but they were however, a little uncertain about it.

"So you want to offer Simon a place at your institute where he can be with others like him and to help train him so that he can use his powers the right way?" asked Mr. Valley.

Xavier was hoping tha this could end alright. Usually, parents didn't quite catch on quickly when he tried to recruit a new student for the institute. More often than not it took over an hour, sometimes two or three, until the parents of his recruit could understand what was going on. And on a few occasions, he was rejected the first time, either by the parents of the mutant or the mutant himself or herself. Now, it seemed to be simply passing along. But he had to be careful about this, for after all whether their son came or not was his choice. The professor had to make sure to be as genuine and sincere as possible when he made offers like this to enroll at the institute. "Yes, that is why I am here. I would like to offer your son a place at my institute where we can give him the training and discipline he needs."

Jean saw the two parents process this information. She sensed that there was a conflict of immense hope and relief and concern and uncertainty in them. She decided to add on to Xavier's speech. "Mr. and Mrs. Valley, I know this may seem sudden, but believe me, we all used to have problems with our powers. We would all be still struggling with our powers today with no idea what to do if it weren't for our time at the Xavier Institute. Isn't that right, guys?" she asked her friends sitting around her. The all nodded in agreement, most of them with enthusiastic looks on their faces.

"Ja," said Kurt, "Ze professor helped us out like nothing elze could. It vas like a dream come true for us all."

"And it really isn't so bad after a while," said Scott, "Having super powers can be pretty cool as well. Of course it may not seem that way at first, but given time, you really grow into it."

Jean looked on at the professor, who was smiling proudly at the children whose lives his guidance and wisdom had been turned from confusion and fear to hope and confidence. "Ever since we joined his school, he's been like a father to us all," she ended it.

"So," said Xavier, turning back to the two parents, "What do you think about all this?"

Mrs. Valley looked at the middle-aged, yet handsome man in the wheelchair. "To tell you the truth, Professor, we're not quite sure how to see this. Form what we've heard from you, this institute sounds like a real helpful place. We've been living with all this confusion and fear for over five years since his powers first appeared. And ever since that day, life for our son has changed dramatically."

"May I ask how," asked the Professor, raising an eyebrow at the mention of a dramatic life-style change.

"When Simon discovered he had those powers," said Mr. Valley, "He's become distant and bitter towards the rest of the world. He was a loner type before then, he hardly let home, went out, or traveled. But when he discovered his ability, he became even more distant than before. He become bitter and mistrusting of people, not going to parties, not making friends. He's been cautious about everything he does because he's been afraid of his powers going out of control. He's been living a confused and hard life ever since the time he found out he was different. Not only that, but he started to fall behind in school. For a while after he first found out about his talents, his grades fell extensively. In fact he almost failed school that year. His confusion and such was so immense on him that he couldn't think of anything else."

Xavier took in each and every word of Mr. Valley's story. He wasn't entirely sure what he was expecting to hear, but he wasn't totally unprepared for anything. It sounded like the discovery of powers had affected this young man severely. And how deeply that ran could present a social problem. Perhaps Xavier had to worry about mental status as well as powers. Powers definitely needed attention and training, but emotional pasts and problems were no small standing issue either. "Mr. Valley, it sounds like your son has been trying to hide himself from the world because of his powers." Mr. Valley nodded in agreement. "I believe that mutants should not need to hide in shame and confusion. I do believe that your son could have a better life at my institute. We can help him overcome his emotional problems and regain lost social skills, as well as train him to use his powers for the betterment of mankind and the struggle for mutants' rights. In fact," he voice became grave, which made Mr. and Mrs. Valley suddenly feel a little uneasy, "I must tell you that I believe that it's in your son's best interest and the interest of people everywhere that he come with us."

Seeing the change of tone, the Valleys looked concerned. "What do you mean?" asked Mrs. Valley.

"Well, try to understand this," said Xavier, as serious as he ever had been, "because it's really vital than you know this. If your son does not agree to come with us, then there is an extremely high possibility that other groups will come to recruit him to their causes, but not with his best interests in mind."

"What are you saying?" asked Mr. Valley, his voice concerned and curious.

"Mr. and Mrs. Valley," Xavier said at last, "my hope is that someday humans and mutants can live together in peace and harmony. However there is one individual whom you must know about who doesn't share this view of mine. Magneto."

The other students were holding their breath on this subject. They knew right from the start that Xavier would bring up the issue of Magneto looking for other mutants to join his cause. He had told them just hours ago of how he didn't want to risk losing Simon to the Brotherhood. Magneto would have wanted a soldier with powers like Simon's. The thoughts of the possible results made them shiver.

"Magneto?" asked Mr. Valley, "Who's Magneto?"

"Magneto is one of the most powerful mutants alive in the world today," Xavier explained, "He was once a very close friend of mine. We both once shared the dream of mutant/human harmony in the world. However, his views changed and now he goes by a philosophy totally different from mine. He believes that mutants can have a free and peaceful existence only through enslaving or eradicating the rest of the human race."

Mr. Valley's eyes looked concerned while his wife looked fearful. "That's terrible," she said, "But why would he want with our son?"

"I'm sure you have seen your son do a variety of things with his powers," said Xavier. They both nodded. "Magneto is always in search of mutants to aid him in his declaration of war on the human race. But he is especially interested in mutants who have exceptional powers, like your son. If he knew about your son, then there is the high probability that he would try to recruit Simon for his own team."

"But Simon would never do that," protested Mrs. Valley, "He has a very strong belief in honor. If he knew what this Magneto intended, he wouldn't have anything to do with him or his plans."

Xavier knew he had gotten the main message across, but now he had to choose the last words of this carefully, for he didn't want o cause anymore concern unless absolutely necessary. "Magneto is a master manipulator. He has ways of persuading others that I prefer not to mention to you," Xavier cautioned, "Even if your son said 'no' to him, he would not accept it as an answer."

He stopped there, hopping that he message had gotten across to the Valleys. It had. He could tell by the way they exchanged glances.

"Well, Professor," said Mr. Valley, "We're uncertain about this institute of yours. I hope you can understand that."

All Xavier did was nod. "Yes, I can relate if this is overwhelming news for you. Not many people take such information easily."

"However," said Mrs. Valley, "it sound like Simon could benefit from all you have to offer. I've always told him that he needs to find people who he can relate to, socialize with. I keep telling him that over and over, but he believes that no one could do that with him because of his powers. But maybe you could prove how wrong he is."

"Well, that's a problem a lot of mutants have," said Xavier kindly, "At the Institute, I teach young mutants how to overcome their personal demons and troubles. It's no easy task, but all my students have benefited from it in that way."

"In addition, even though I believe it would be best if your son did enroll at my institute, he must come of his own free will. I may be as encouraging as I can be, but the final choice is his."

Both Mr. and Mrs. Valley could see what he meant. "Well, I guess we should leave that choice up to Simon once he hears what you can offer," said Mr. Valley, "From my personal viewpoint, I don't know what to say. I really think that Simon should hear from you."

"Well," said the Professor, "now that that is taken care of, I would like to speak with your son."

"I'm afraid he isn't here," said Mr. Valley, "as I said earlier."

Xavier nodded. "Yes, but do you know when he will return."

Mrs. Valley responded. "Every night, he goes on long walks through the city. He never goes anywhere in particular as far as Nick and I know. And he always stays out as long as he is allowed, which is late."

Xavier placed his chin in his hands. "Well, then, I think then I should try to get a hold of him sooner than that." He then turned to Logan. "Logan, could you and the students take the X-Van and look for Simon?"

"Sure thing, Chuck," said Logan, looking relieved to have a chance for some action after all this listening and waiting. Besides, he could use a chance to use his superb tracking skills.

"Scott, you and rest of the students go with Logan and location Simon. Ororo and I will remain here and give Mr. an Mrs. Valley the details of what we are offering."

Scott got up and gave the professor a salute. "You got it, Professor," he said confidently.

"But, how will you be able to find him?" asked Mrs. Valley.

"Not to worry," said Jean, "We have special means of finding him. And we won't harm him either."

* * *

Simon Peter Valley of Moonriver Falls, Washington was not in a good mood. He was now standing on a rooftop above the ally where he had stopped a young woman from getting robbed or raped or worse. But he wasn't satisfied with his task. Now that he was in armored form and energized to the brim with organic power he was restless more than ever, the power of his state acting like nuclear power adrenaline to his system and network of neural pathways of energy vessels. 

Stopping that thug had been so easy it wasn't even funny. And easy was a word Simon Valley hated about 50 percent of the time he heard it. His thoughts suddenly wandered back to the moment he had stopped the attacker.

_The drunk, drugged up thug raised a huge fist to strike the poor innocent that was at his mercy. The woman was paralyzed with fear, her body frozen as if submerged in a human body freezing solution._

"_Time to see a real man play," sneered the bastard as he readied to do some dirty act._

_Simon took the opportunity. Using his powerful speed and strength, he yanked the creep away. Picking up the guy like a piece of trash, Simon gave him a massive blow with one of his fists, as powerful and as formidable as a sledgehammer, to the guy's gut. It sent the air out the punk's lungs with a whoosh of air that Simon felt right through his living armor and skull covering. _

_With less than a minute left, Simon raised his fist again and struck the thug on the head. Simon made sure he didn't do it with enough force to crack his skull open. He wanted to stop this jerk from harming the woman, but he didn't want to kill him._

_As soon as the attack met its mark on the guy's head, the fight left the punk in a heartbeat._

_Simon looked up to see if the woman was all right. But his enhanced vision didn't see her there. But at the same moment, Simon's supersonic hearing abilities detected the footfalls of high-heeled shoes on cobbled pavement from the far end of the ally. Turning his armored head, he saw the reddened image of the woman darting out the ally and around the corner, vanishing from sight as she went._

_The most vivid details he would remember was the look of utter terror on the goon's face at Simon's armored mug of fanged, blue-eyed glory. And the even greater terror of the woman he had just saved. She was more afraid of him than the thug._

_Two people had seen him in his armored form, which was something he never wanted to happen. _

Now Simon was up on the roof of the building beside the location of where that attack took place no more than two minutes ago. He still was in his armored form, but he didn't really deactivate it for a reason he could quite place. It was as if something at the back of his head was urging him not to turn off his battle mode.

If Simon could feel any sort of satisfaction at all, it would have been in being able to stop a terrible act of human evil, even if it was by a means that he was not satisfied with to begin with since it reminded him of how much a _freak_ he was in comparison to other people.

* * *

"According to these readings, he should be in the next section of the city," said Jean as she sat in the front seat of the X-Van with Logan at the wheel, "I think he in a two-mile radius." 

Scott and the rest of the students were in the back seats of the van as it raced up and down the streets and highways of Moonriver Falls. They had all left the Valley mansion twenty minutes ago and were well into their search for Simon Valley. Logan was ready to use his powerful sense of smell, which allowed him to follow a target as effectively as shark would detect a bleeding fish for consumption in dark deep ocean waters. Jean herself was now equipped with Simon's brainwave patterns, which Xavier had provided her with shortly before they had disembarked on their search and location operation. Now, to find out which part of this large city he was in, they were using the newly built-in mutant signature detecting sensors of the X-Van to location their target's general whereabouts.

Scott tried to read the readings as best he could from his seat behind Jean. As far as he could tell, the display Jean was reading showed a read digital map of the section of the city they were traveling through. The blipping red X on the screen was clearly the X-Van, but other than that, there was no other indicator symbol on the map, which probably meant that Simon Valley was not in that section of the city.

"Man, how are we supposed to find a mutant who looks just like an ordinary human being in a city like this at night. It's like a needle in a haystack," said Evan, "We might as well put up posters saying 'have you seen this mutant?'"

"Very funny, Evan," said Kitty sarcastically, "We'll find him soon enough." Evan Daniels was the resident complainer of the X-Men, and that was probably putting it mildly. It was almost like Evan's list of things to complain about was growing faster than the extensions of his bones were when he fired up his spike-producing powers.

"Ah wonder what he'll say about joinin' us at the institute?" said Rogue, "Weh might have ta' improvise."

"Well, I just hope he doesn't go all "energy storm spellcaster" on us when we try to talk to him," said Kitty, "if I try to phase through all that energy he can throw at us, I may end up phasing myself out."

"Amen to zat," said Kurt.

Rogue was thinking as well. She remembered what Mr. and Mrs. Valley had told them a while ago about Simon. Bitter and distant. More to the point, they had said that he had been a loner even before his powers emerged, like she had. And like her, he had become even more so once his powers manifested. Rogue's mind was going through all sorts of twists with Simon as a member of the X-Men. But also, it was pretty much only what one who knew nothing about him could come up with.

As the six teenagers and one adult continued on, the sensors and detectors still showed no sign of the mutant energy pattern of Simon's abilities. Jean, as well as Scott, Kitty and Rogue, would steal glances at the panel. But still fifteen minutes later, there was no indication of a mutant gene-possessing life form anywhere in the surrounding vicinity.

Suddenly, a beeping came to Jean's attention. She looked at the digital map on the screen before her and saw a tiny green dot on the red and black map of the city. And the blipping X marking the location of the X-Van was very close to it, about six inches apart from it.

The others had heard the beep and also saw the indication on the screen. "It looks like we've found our target," said Scott.

"Where is he?" asked Logan.

Jean quickly did an estimation of how far away the mutant was from them. By the distance legend the map was set to, she judged it to be two miles away. "Two miles straight ahead," reported Jean.

"On it," said Logan automatically. He stepped on the gas and accelerated on.

As he drove, the distance between the two symbols became smaller and smaller, a sure sign that the distance between them was closing rapidly. Within three minutes, the dot and X were less than half an inch from each other.

"I think this as close as we can get," said Jean, "According to these readings, he should be right next to us."

Logan came up with the next step. "Let's pull over and search on foot," Logan suggested, "I'll be able to sniff him out from there."

"Ya can do that?" asked Rogue.

"Sure, Stripes," said Logan, "I was in his house, I was near his coat, I got his scent. We'll be able to find him easily." Logan slowed down and parked the X-Van hear a mailbox and newspaper stand standing side-by-side on the sidewalk. The X-Men unbuckled their seatbelts and started to climb out.

* * *

An armored, alien-looking Simon was walking towards the door that lead to the downstairs of the apartment building he was currently standing on. He was about several yards away from the door when he suddenly stopped. 

There was something strange present. Something unlike anything he had felt before. He sensed something, yet he couldn't understand or identify it. He couldn't see any unusual heat, light, or electrical color signatures with his transformation-enhanced vision, nor could he feel or detect the presence of strange vibrations or sound waves anywhere nearby. But something was coming and Simon suddenly tensed up, bringing his powerful, carapace-sheathed hands and arms in a battle-ready stance, prepared to defend himself should he be attacked.

Carefully, Simon moved slowly and carefully, trying to find out where the strange feeling was coming from. At first in was ubiquitous, as if the entire world was trying to confuse him. But right then and there, the entire idea based on that assumption as thrown away, for there was no possibility of it being that way.

But suddenly, Simon noticed a change in the sensation and yet began to understand it more. It was like a combination of heat and cold at the same time, but more warm than it was cool. And it was a powerful sensation as well. It was so strong that Simon now had difficulty sensing other signatures around him.

The feeling was no longer everywhere, for it seemed to be narrowing its location of source down to a single spot. As Simon continued to determine where the source was coming from, he finally managed to figure out where the source was the strongest. It was coming from one side of the building and it was lower than the roof. Perhaps on the ground level on the street or sidewalk.

Simon walked over to the edge of the rooftop and knelt down to inspect what was going on below. His brightblue eyes scanned the city streets. But Simon didn't see anything strange yet. He saw the red thermal signatures of people and other hot objects, he saw the solid white beams of car headlights and streetlamps, the purple electrical presence of devices such as telephones, powers lines, and any other type of electronic device on the street and the pale waves marked by the vibrations produced by the footfalls of people and the movement of car tires.

Without anything strange to pin on this new feeling, Simon couldn't understand what was going on. This was getting frustrating. Simon looked some more and listened as hard as he could to whatever his energy/vibration senses would pick up. Nothing.

Suddenly, something caught Simon's attention. Was he seeing things? No, there WAS something unusual down there on the street. He could see it now. It was a large minivan coming toward his location. It had just the same energy patterns as any car he saw tonight, but there was something else about it, something he didn't ever remember seeing in his armored form.

The more he looked, the more obvious it became. He suddenly saw a color that he hadn't seen before in armored mode. It was gold, a fierce bright flaming gold light. Coming from inside the van.

As he watched, the van pulled up to the sidewalk and parked right next the building he was standing on. Just then, the doors of the van opened and seven people got out. Simon suddenly saw that the people were what were giving off the strange golden light he was seeing. Their bodies didn't appear red like the others around them. They glowed gold like the sun. He saw them move and interact with each other.

Simon was confused. Why were these people emitting the strange gold aura? There was something different about them, but he had no idea what it was. This was both interesting and frightening as well. Then Simon saw something else as well. One of the figures, a boy wearing glasses, as the telescopic properties of Simon's energy vision picked up, had a particularly bright gold glow on a certain area of his body, which was brighter than the rest. It was coming from behind his glasses, as if he had two small suns where he eyes were with the glasses placed in front of them.

The figures stayed where they were. They appeared to be considering something. Simon tried listening.

"So where is this guy?" he heard a male voice say, "I don't this Simon Valley anywhere."

Simon froze. They were looking for him? How did they know him? What were they after?

"According to these readings," he heard a female voice speak up, "he should be right next to us, but there's nothing here other than this building."

She pointed up to where Simon was. And just as quickly, Simon leaped out of the view of sight of the street. These golden people knew who he was and where he was. Something was way off base here. He didn't recognize them at all. He had never met them. So who the hell were they!

Simon suddenly realized that he had to get off this building and keep an eye out on them. Whatever was going on, he had to find out. And then perhaps, he could figure out what to do next.

* * *

That's it for now folks! Coming up next is probably the part you've all been waiting for, when Simon meets the X-Men. It will be interesting to say the least! And remember, REVIEW! 


	7. Encounter with the XMen, Part 1

Hello again.

Now, for the next chapter, where the X-Men meet Simon Valley for the very first time!

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Encounter with the X-Men, Part 1**

Logan, Scott, Jean, Kitty, Kurt, Evan, and Rogue all stood grouped together on the sidewalk of the street that the X-Van was parked on. Finding a recruit in particular was a difficult task, even if you knew what the recruit looked like. But in a city where there were millions of people, then it made the job even more difficult further. But, as in most scenarios, the X-Men had the advantage of mutant abilities to help home in on their target. With Logan's super senses and Jean Grey's thought-detecting telepathy, it would make the task easier and quicker. Not to mention, it would help get them walking in the right direction and searching in the right place very early on, saving them the hassle of finding the right location.

Right now in the city of Moonriver Falls, Washington the seven of them were perfectly anomalous to the city's human population and would blend in perfectly with everyone else. Since mutants would, almost without doubt, be feared and rejected outright because of their abilities, it was fortunate that most looked as human as an ordinary homo sapiens, allowing them to be virtually indistinguishable from the humans.

As Logan and the rest of the students at the institute had learned weeks earlier, the percentage of the world's population carrying the X-gene was steadily growing. Thirty years before there had been around 1000 to 2000 known mutants. Now, however, with plenty of time having come to pass, Xavier had estimated that the mutant population of the world had reached 10,000 to 20,000 in number, even though most still didn't realize they were mutants yet, as their powers had not yet manifested. As the mutant ranks of the human race grew, the difficulty of keeping mutants and their powers secret from the rest of the world would be even more difficult than before. And as the numbers grew, so did the likelihood of mutants being exposed to the human population.

This mutant was not that different. But yet he was in a certain way. He had the basic requirements to be a mutant: an X-Gene, powers, and some biological differences that made him unique. Oh, sure there was the enormous variety of powers mutants possessed which made mutants unique from one another, but they also thought of what made this guy in particular unique. As far as explanations went, it was his ability to transform his body on the sub-atomic level of matter. In addition, there was the form he could change into through that special mutant metamorphosis. Energy. Solid bone and flesh and liquid blood and body fluids into energy. The change itself was remarkable. The differences between the two forms were as different as two things could be.

"Are your sure this is the place," said Logan, sniffing the air, "I can't smell him."

"How close is he?" asked Kitty.

Logan added something before she got a response, "I think he's in that armor the Prof told us about. I think it could account for no scent."

"No scent?" asked Evan.

Logan took another whiff of the air to see if his assessment was correct. He decided he was correct. He had taken a whiff of Simon Valley's scent from the coat he absent-mindedly took a sniff of back at the Valley mansion to get the kid's smell. Usually, Logan could smell a person's scent a great distance away, over half-a mile or even more. But since the sensors on the X-Van had indicated that their target was right next to them and he couldn't sniff him out, it had to be that he was in his armor. If Logan remembered correctly, Xavier had said that in armored mode the kid was a humanoid entity composed of living energy encased in living carapace armor sheathing. Since energy itself had no scent whatsoever and because Logan didn't know what the substance that made up the armor smelled like, or if it had any scent at all, it was probably the reason for him not being able to pick the target's smell.

The rest of the group was already looking for any signs of their target being nearby. They had all seen his face enough times on the van's screens to know what to look for. But if he was in his armor as Logan suggested, then what would put them at a disadvantage, but perhaps give them a far surpassing advantage as well. They had no idea what he looked like when he secondary mutation was active, but then again, it would probably make him stand out like a sore thumb if they saw him in his armor.

"So vhere shall ve start looking?" asked Kurt.

"Let's start looking around this building right here," suggested Scott, "If the readings say he's here, he must be somewhere nearby."

The others started to look around them at Scott's suggestion. The suggestion was logical enough, as Scott was known to be on missions of any sort. They had all seen pictures of Simon Valley lots of times on their drive into town after meeting at the Valley mansion and each of them knew what he looked like. But looking around them, they could see no one with his individual characteristics.

Logan breathed the air in deeply through his nose, his super sense of smell searching for any trace of his target's scent. But, to add onto his frustration, he couldn't detect the slightest mark of the unique smell of the recruit. Logan was a mutant who took pride in his hunting skills. It was known to most of the X-Men that he could give a bloodhound's sense of smell a run for its money. But apparently, right now, Logan guessed that the kid was in his armor right now, which would account for no scent being given off in this vicinity that was supposed to be his current location. Logan knew of no type of armor that had a scent of its own.

"I still can't smell him anywhere nearby. Either that kid's little protection suit is smell proof or we're looking in the wrong place," said Logan, his frustration clear in his voice.

Kitty looked up towards the building. "Could he be inside the building?" she suggested.

The others were about to respond, but Scott, suddenly came up with an idea. He knew that it was a long shot, but maybe it would work.

"Jean?" he asked.

The young redhead turned to face the young leader. "Yes, Scott?" she asked, curious as to what he was thinking.

"Is it possible for you to locate this guy by sensing his brainwave patterns?" he asked, "The professor did that the time we tried to recruit, Rogue."

The mention of that made Rogue's ears perk up. She herself remembered when she had seen the X-Men for the first time, which was among the scariest, most overwhelming nights she could remember. The night she had first learned of her absorption powers and the turmoil of having thoughts, memories, and consciousness in her mind in addition to her own. All the confusion led her to believe that they were her enemies and she also had some help with being convinced that they were, courtesy of Mystique.

However, Rogue suddenly through of how this was similar to her own first recruitment. But also different. She tried to remember what Xavier had told them all hours before on this new mutant's powers. She suddenly got the feeling of a possible means of blocking out psychic means. But she was unsure of that. As far as the rules of physics and energy and mutations were concerned, all of which were fields Rogue had not true expertise in, this mutant's powers were physical, not mental. And if that were true, there was no way he could block out a telepath's psychic senses.

"Yeah, I remember that," said Logan, "The Prof was real good at doin' that. Why don't you give it a try, Red."

_Pretty big of Logan to admit someone being good at tracking down someone when he himself is the best tracker of the group_, thought Jean. "Well, Guys," the red-haired telepath, "I'll sure give a try. I should be able to sense him. The professor said he doesn't have any mental abilities, so he shouldn't be able to block my telepathy."

"I'm willin' to get any lead I can on this kid," said Logan, still frustrated by not being able to smell his target.

Jean placed her fingers to her temples and closed her eyes. She had done this before many times, as Xavier had taught her over the years. Concentrating very hard, she let down her mental barriers and allowed her psionic energies to fan out over a moderate distance. The radius of Jean's psionic telepathic field started to expand more and more and the brainwave patterns of other people started to reach her own conscious mind. The effect was very similar to a radar or sonar scanner, but although Jean was picking up the presences of many potential targets for brainwave searching, knew which ones were not what she was seeking. Xavier had taught her to seek out only a certain pattern, for it was unique for each person.

The others looked on as Jean did her sweeping scan of the surrounding area. For a few moments, all she did was hold her fingertips to her head and squint in head-aching focus and concentration. The rest of the group couldn't help but feel a little sorry for Jean, for they understood that really using psychic powers could give a person headaches if used greatly. Suddenly, Jean opened her eyes.

"He's on the roof," she said, "pointing up towards the top of the building.

Kurt and Evan immediately looked up to see. "I don't see anyone up there," said Evan.

Rogue looked at Evan with a confused stare. "If he's tryin' to hide from us," said the southern mutant, "then he knows we're lookin' for him."

Kitty looked startled. "You mean, he's hunting us now?" she asked, "How can he do that if he doesn't even know we're here?"

"He can't know ve're here," said Kurt, "He can't have zeen uz."

Just then, Jean interrupted the arguing. "Wait," she said suddenly. It happened in that very instant. Jean felt the sudden change of location of the specific brainwave pattern she was sensing. Simon Valley's pattern had suddenly shifted position and was moving in the other direction.

"What is it, Jean?" asked Scott.

Jean remained silent for a split second as she focused again on her mental field, then opened her eyes again. "He-he's moving away from us. He's headed for the other side of the building. He's getting away."

The others exchanged glances. "We have to reach him before we lose him," said Rogue.

Suddenly Kurt pointed to an alley close to where they were. "Look, maybe ve can reach him through there," he said pointing to opening in the walls.

The others looked and understood what Kurt was referring to.

"Let's move, people," said Scott.

* * *

Simon was confused more than anything else right now. Things were strange right now, even by his standards, which were not normal to ordinary human beings. And if they weren't normal to his standards, they were as far from normal as was possible. First of all, he was as restless as ever earlier tonight and no matter how hard or how far he had walked, his overwhelming energy level, resulting from either a biochemical imbalance that was remotely possible or a super surge cascade of adrenaline sending the fight or flee impulse to his brain and muscles, was swarming around him like a high fever. Then he had sensed something coming before it was there, which was strange enough for Simon alone, and finally he had see that group of teenagers bathed in flaming golden light and aura and them mentioning his name and saying he was moving as if one of them had a built-in tracking system. 

Simon didn't know those people. In fact, he wasn't sure he wanted to. Whenever he can gone charged and armored in the past, all the human beings he had seen through hisenergy-composed eyeballs were bright red with infrared thermal energy generated by their bodies. There was some strange thing going on here if those people were golden. It couldn't be body heat that produced that strange golden glow, nor could it be bioelectrical properties of the human nervous system. Surely there was a rational explanation for all of this. But whatever that rational explanation was was beyond his knowledge.

Simon looked down from the edge of the rooftop. The ground was fair distance down, perhaps 70 or 80 feet. Simon could jump off the roof, but was hesitant. He had never really tried leaping off of spots very high off the ground while he was covered by his armor. If anything, his armored exoskeleton could crack or even shatter from the impact if he did. Simon still had no idea of how much stress his armor could take before it gave out under the strain. His armor was tough, since it wasn't even dented or scratched by gunfire, but even the strongest, most resilient armor had limits to how much it could take. And considering how strong Earth's gravitational magnetic field was and how hard and rigid the ground below could be, it seemed safer to not jump and land on one's feet.

Jumping off the building suddenly had more bad sides than one. Even if his foot, shin, and thigh armor held from the impact of an 80-foot drop, it would cause a noise. Those golden glowing figures were without a doubt nearby and if a sound like that was made, they would hear it and come running immediately. If Simon's ordinary footfalls made the sound of metal on metal when he was walking normally, there was no telling what kind of noise would be produced if he jumped off a roof this high up and landed on his feet. For all Simon knew, it could have sounded like a dozen gongs and cymbals being clanged and beaten at the same time.

So instead, he carefully floated down. FLying was easy enough, but floating to a slow landing was just as simple. A magnetic blue outline surrounded Simon's armored form, and then he floated off the roof to the pavement below. Less than a minute later, his feet were touching the ground far below. He hadn't made any commotion, which was definitely a good thing in this instance. He needed to get moving now.

Simon rose from his bent over position and stood up straight. Taking care that no one was around, he started to move away towards another alleyway that lead farther away from the street. If those golden glowing figures were following him, they would be stuck, for they had entered that dead end alley. By the time they reached the spot he was now, Simon would be long gone.

* * *

They had hit a dead end only mere minutes into the search, literally. The seven X-Men had gone into the alley where Kurt had suggested they go in order to reach the back of the building before their latest target got away. But instead of leading into the back of the building, the alley had ended at a thick brick wall at least thirty feet high, impenetrable. 

"Great. A dead end," Evan complained.

"Well, looks like we'll have to improvise," said Kitty, her pretty blue eyes lighting up as she thought of a means to overcome this, "I'll phase us though."

"All of uz?" asked Kurt, thinking of how much as strain that would be on Kitty's intangibility talent.

"Sure, Kurt," said Kitty with confidence, "Unless you can teleport us through," she added with a tone of challenge and dare in her young valley girl voice.

"I can't do that Kitty," said Kurt, hanging his head in defeat, "no without knowing what's on the other side."

"Well, Fuzzy Elf, everyone grab on."

The distance between himself and the unknown figures was growing by the second. Soon it would give him all advantages he required to avoid being seen. And once that was taken care of, perhaps he could even forget this whole thing even happened.

With armored feet hammering the rock-hard pavement beneath them, and his red eyes scanning the alley ahead for trouble, Simon was starting to feel more at ease. Those gold-glow figures may be looking for him, but there was no way that they could reach him in time to catch him now.

* * *

For the first time that night, Simon actually felt a sense of relaxation. But he couldn't quite place how it came to be like that. Maybe seeing those bizarre gold humanoid creatures, which looked human if one looked beyond the golden glow, had made his anxiety shoot up and then getting away from them had quieted it down. Simon suddenly reasoned that maybe even when he was in his armored and charged up form, adrenaline or some other type of energy-composed hormone that acted like adrenaline, made his energy peak in times of stress. If that was true, perhaps Simon was learning more and more about his strange form every time he used it. But with each new discovery, at least a dozen new questions surfaced as a result. 

A sudden, bizarre shift of Simon's sensory of what was going on behind him caused him to swing his head back towards the spot he had teleported onto from the roof. A strange sound, unlike any he had heard before, reached him, and a sudden swirl and splotch of that some bizarre golden light he had seen emitting from those teenagers and one adult appeared in his line of sight. It was like some sort of strange portal was opening in the wall, colored red and blue by Simon's energy vision, that was blocking the way into the alley from the one on the other side.

Firing a blast of electricity or concussive force was Simon's first instinct, but he immediately tried to think of a less lethal and damaging alternative. Even if he threw his smallest energy attack, it would easily harm someone. Simon had always tried to dim his blasts so that they hardly caused any damage, but no matter how many times he had tried to lessen the impact it never really worked. If Simon could have asked for anything other than getting rid of these powers totally, it would have been the ability to dim his beams and blasts until they were almost nothing.

Instead of throwing jets of his energy, Simon started to back away. The golden glowing spot on the wall grew brighter, the gold tints and hues intensifying as the size of the area grew. Whatever was causing this strange occurrence, it was getting closer or stronger, and Simon couldn't tell which.

As he watched, the gold glow brightened until it was like Simon was looking at a light bulb with no shade or shield, it was so bright. For some reason, the blazing gold light didn't make Simon's eyes hurt from looking at it, but it did make him realize something big was on its way.

The corner right next to him provided him with a means of hiding. What it really provided, in the specific sense what a quick means of cover. Simon didn't like hiding, but what really made him uneasy was someone seeing him cowering in the dark while his suit of armor covered him. That image was almost laughable. But unfortunately, Simon had no other way of avoiding being seen right away.

Simon barely inched one of his flaring eyes around the corner to see if anything was happening. What he saw almost made him gasp. As he watched, he saw the golden glow flare into blazing radiance at the center. Then a shape that he at first thought was a blob of light emerged. After a second, Simon realized the shape was a hand, flowed by an arm. Then, seconds later, a whole body stepped out of the glowing area on the brick wall stepped out. And Simon recognized it at a glance. It was of a young petite girl, about seventeen, about two years younger than himself. But she was glowing gold, like the wall behind her. She stepped through the solid matter of the wall like it was made of air, or like she was ghost.

Simon had barely enough time to register this phenomenon when another figure, a teenage boy with a strange haircut, appeared right behind her, then another figure appeared, and another. And another. And another.

If Simon could have widened his eyes, which he couldn't with his armor, he would have until his eyeballs would have fallen out of his head. Those golden people he had seen up on the roof were right before him. They had just stepped through the wall. Just like that. An ability that couldn't be human at all. Was that why they were glowing with that strange color? Or were they simply ghosts? That would explain why they went through the wall. But then again, since when were spirits or ghosts or whatever composed of energy?

Simon pulled back his head from around the corner. None of them had seen him. Yet. Simon was never the kind for a game of cat-and-mouse, but right now, this was a situation like that. They were the cat, or a whole pack of cats, against a single mouse, him.

He had to start blending in. Now. He turned his back on them and started for the street this alley led to. His armor trappings started to dematerialize as he walked, solid plating retracting down his body to expose his bizarreenergized anatomy underneath, which then solidified and became flesh and blood once more. If Simon were to avoid these people, or to attach them before they attack him, he would need to find a place that gave him room to run and think if he needed to. And he knew just where to go for that.

* * *

Scott Summers looked this way and that along the alley. Kitty Pryde had phased them into this spot, where Jean had said their target was located. But looking around the world with his red-hazed over eyesight, Scott could see no sign of anyone being her at all. There were not even an alley cat present. Either this target was constantly moving to discourage them, or his daily routine of walking was so quick nothing else in the time continuum affected him. 

"Talk about your group phase," said Evan.

"Beat's taking a doorway or ladder," said Kitty.

Evan only stared at the young girl, keeping is young teenage smart-mouth quiet just this once.

Kurt was looking around the alley as well, his human-looking eyes looking for any trace of some weird-looking figure covered with living armor. "Zis guy sure knowz how to avoid uz," he said in his German-accented voice, "Firzt he'z here, den he'z zhere, zen he izn't anyvhere."

"He was here," Jean cut in, holding her hand to her head as she always did when scanning for thoughts, "I can feel him."

"Well, lahke, where is he?" asked Rogue, looking to the right and to the left.

Jean concentrated more on her telepathic scans. She was suddenly having trouble locating Simon's origin. The sudden whirlwind of confusion had overpowered her telepathy. Kitty's phasing all their molecules through the solid matter of the wall may have jumbled their thoughts, for phasing your molecules through matter could put a strain on your level-headedness if you weren't used to it. Perhaps it was the solid walls around them. Some things could pass through solid formations easier than others, like sound could better than light. When it came to telepathic abilities, it didn't entirely stop them, but it did hinder them nonetheless.

"I can sense him," said Jean, "He's somewhere close by. Really close by."

"Well," said Logan, "I say we----," Logan stopped in mid-sentence as something caught his attention.

"Logan?" asked Scott.

The wild-haired man didn't respond right away. He narrowed his eyes, as he always did when he was focusing on something. He took several sniffs of the air. His eyes widened a little.

"He's here," said Logan, "I can smell him."

The others immediately became interested. "But I thought you couldn't," said Kurt.

"I didn't a minute ago, Elf," Logan replied, "but I can now. He must've dropped that armor suit of his."

"Where is he then?" asked Evan impatiently.

Logan breathed in through his nose deeply, and then he did it again. "He's close." A few seconds later, he pointed toward on end of the alley. "He was over there," he said. He immediately took off for the spot; the others close in tow behind him.

_Man, never get in Logan's way when he's tracking someone_, thought Scott as he kept up with the others.

Logan suddenly stopped at the corner of the alley. He turned his head in several directions to sniff from whatever angle he could muster. "He was in this spot, just now," said Logan. He sniffed the air some more. "Then he went that way." He pointed to where the alley led to.

The rest of the X-Men were silent. The feelings going through their minds were of mixed origins. On one hand, they were glad that this new recruit was not lost to them. Logan could now smell him, and Jean still had a fairly strong lock on his mind. However, there were also feelings of nervousness. They had been within grasping reach of finding their latest mutant, but he had slipped away from them, twice in the past few minutes. Almost like he was intentionally avoiding them.

"Did he walk through here on that walk he takes every night?" asked Kitty, "Maybe he is just going to strange places." The way Kitty said those words was nervously. Clearly they were meant to sound as if it was a possibility, and maybe it was. But the nervous tone of her voice clearly said that she herself didn't believe it. The others too felt as if this was more than coincidence, for surely this mutant wouldn't take a walk around the city in a living suit of armor.

"No," Logan countered, "He was still for a few minutes." He paused. His next words confirmed their suspicions. "He knows we're searching for him."

Everyone exchanged glances, their faces masks of uneasiness and anxiety. Rogue's mind was racing with all sorts of questions. How did this mutant know they were tracking him? That was key question. Surely he couldn't have known they were out looking for him. Unless he had the mental abilities that everyone knew he didn't have. Was he somehow able to sense other mutants around him? Or was it through some other means? She didn't know what it was or how it was.

"C'mon," Logan told the group, "Let's keep movin'."

* * *

Simon stood standing part way down yet another narrow passage way between buildings that led to a large iron gate set into a concrete wall at the far end. The buildings on either side were windowless on the sides facing him, and there was no indication of an entrance in them either, not a door, dispenser for garbage, or even a vent for air-conditioning or heating. 

The weird ghost golden people from earlier couldn't be far behind. They had all passed through that wall like it was nothing. And if that was the case, there was no telling what else they could do that Simon was not aware of. Tonight was full of strange things that were going on.

Simon walked quickly up to the large gate set into the concrete wall that loomed before him. It was almost mocking him that this could hold him in the boundaries of the walls. It was a normal-looking gate and an ordinary looking wall. Nothing more or even less than that.

Simon's gaze traveled to the handles of the gate. They had no locking mechanism on them, nor a knob to turn to unlock it. However, both doors were locked tightly together with a large chain that was carefully strung between the bars and fastened with a large steel lock. It was clearly meant to keep out any trespassers.

A faint glow started to build up in Simon's eyes. It was pale at first. Then it grew, going from light to brillant blue. The energy started to move out of his eyes, flowing his line of vision that was fixed on the lock and chain. The streams of energy shot out towards the lock, the energy spiraling into sharp, straight beams of intense blue heat that struck the lock. For a brief second, nothing happened. Then the chain and lock started to glow. The metal was conducting the heat, the energy traveling along the length of the chain and building up in the metal of the lock. The glow was red at first, and then it glowed a fierce white. As the heat intensified, the metal began to melt. The solid metal started to run and then it melted completely. The lock fell to the ground, plopping down and forming a lump of molten metal that started to cool as it hit the much colder pavement. Simon turned off the heat rays.

Careful to avoid touching the molten chain and lock on the ground, Simon opened the now unlocked doors and stepped through.

* * *

Logan was on the right track. He knew it for sure. The kid's smell was strong now. That meant they were close. The stronger a scent was, the closer the source was. It was as simple as that. The source was always where the scent was strongest. Any other scent it left somewhere was simply residual. All the concepts pointed out to Logan that they were nearing their target. 

"We're getting closer," Logan stated, "Follow me."

The six teenage mutants flowed the Canadian man further. Since Jean had reasoned earlier that her telepathy should be given a rest for the moment, Logan's super sense of smell was leading the way.

Finally, they reached an alley where Logan detected something strange in the air. He sniffed deeply. He smelled a smell he had smelled before, but he had only smelled it in certain areas, such as a welding plant or a steel processor. The air was perfumed with the odor of burning and melted metal. He stopped.

"Look," he said, pointing to what he identified as the source of the burning metal.

"What--," Rogue started to say, but stopped when she noticed what Logan was pointing to. She saw a strange looking clump of a red substance. At first she thought it was a piece of paint, but then she realized that the red color was glowing off of the lump of whatever it was.

"What is that?" she asked.

Logan sniffed again. "It's metal. Someone's melted it."

Kitty strode over to where the glowing lump of steel was. She looked over the shape of it, examining it carefully.

"Careful, Kitty," said Scott, "Don't burn yourself."

"I won't, Scott," the petite brunette answered.

She carefully lowered a bare hand closer to the clump. The air was cool, so Kitty immediately noticed the heat the glob of metal was giving off. When her hand was six inches away from the spot, the air around her hand really began to warm up. This thing had been heated to melting point a very short time ago.

"This thing's still as hot as it was when it was melting," said Kitty, "That must mean this guy used his heat powers on it."

"But why would he melt it like that?" asked Evan.

"Look there," said Jean. She pointed to a metal gate that was right next to the spot Kitty was kneeling down. Rogue was confused as to what Jean was referring to about the gate, as was everyone else, until she saw the chain that was dangling from the right door. The chain was limp and loose, but what really got attention was that it was not connected to anything. Both ends of the chain looked melted, the steel of it in goo-like state that looked as malleable as clay, radiating heat and faint hot light from it.

"That must have been the chain that was locking this gate," said Jean.

"He musta melted this gate open," said Rogue.

"We're getting closer," said Logan, "real close, now." Logan started to walk towards the open gate to the wide-open space beyond.

Rogue suddenly reached out and grabbed Logan's broad shoulder with one of her gloved hands. "Wait, Logan," she said cautiously. Logan suddenly stiffened before turning to face the young girl. "Ah think we should do this nice an slow," she suggested, "Ah sort of have bad feelin' about this."

"What's to worry about?" asked Logan, suddenly sounding a little impatient.

"What if he's waitin' for us," said Rogue.

"Relax, Stripes," said the clawed mutant, "I'm sure anything he can throw at me, these will stop." He brought up his two sets of adamantium claws up to prove his point.

"Whoa, Logan," Scott suddenly jumped in, "Let's not go all raging predator on this guy. Remember what Professor X told us about making him feel threatened?"

Logan shook his head at that. Remembering details like that was not one of his strong points.

"He said that if he feels threatened, he can act violently."

"Ja, I remember that," said Kurt, "an frankly, I don't think I would like to zee what a mutant with energy powers can do when he's violent."

"Like totally," Kitty added, "He may end up energy-blasting us to kingdom come."

Logan thought about that for a second. He could tell that Scott had a point. It was that old animal rage berserker instinct of his kicking in. Years of work to dampen it out had helped a great deal, but there still were times when Logan's control slipped, which was not a safe thing for others around him. He retracted his claws back into his hands.

"Point taken," he said reluctantly, "But let's keep goin',"

The area beyond the gate revealed a large lot the size of a football field surrounded by buildings and warehouses. On one side of the lot was the lake that Moonriver Falls was located near. Docks and boats were lined up along the waterline, the boats floating slightly and easily with the easy waves moving up against the shoreline and walls. The lake beyond was vast and open, the water as black as the night sky, except for a large silver-white area that the full moon reflected off of on the rippling waving surface.

The X-Men continued on into the lot, their eyes carefully scanning their surroundings. There were piles of crates here and there, piled high up, as well as empty oil drums and small storage tanks for boat fuel or propane gas. In addition, the lot contained a couple of forklifts that were parked randomly. The loading doors of one or two of the warehouses were raised and open, allowing some moonlight to pass through. No lights were on anywhere, but the moonlight still gave off enough light for them to see.

Rogue carefully observed everything she passed. So far, nothing seemed to be strange. If anything, this looked like a simple loading area that was closed for the night. Nothing was out of place, no strange movement. Anyone who would not be looking for a mutant in these sort of conditions would not be scared at all.

However, a feeling began to build up inside Rogue. She was suddenly feeling like there was something going on here that she wasn't aware of. She had that strange gut feeling that something was wrong here. Or that there was surprise waiting for them. Rogue did not like surprises.

"He came this way," Logan reported as he continued to sniff out Simon's scent, following it.

The others followed Logan towards a spot near a bunch of wooden crates that were stacked up in front of warehouse on a stone base. Suddenly, Logan stopped.

"What is it, Logan?" asked Scott, "Can you still smell him?"

Logan stood still for a second, as if trying to make sense of what he was processing. He finally raised his head to the six teenagers. "I've lost his scent," he told them, "It's like he vanished."

The younger X-Men suddenly felt uneasy. Where was the search leading to anyway? So far, they had been wondering just what was going to happen later on in their search for this latest recruit. But now, he had so vanished. All of them began to feel uneasy and tense.

"But how could he have vanished?" asked Evan.

"We can't have lost him like that," said Scott, "we have to do something to find him."

"Well," Rogue cut into the conversation, "Ah say we---," suddenly she stopped in mid-sentence. Rogue suddenly felt like something wasn't right. She noticed something about their environment that she hadn't before. There was dead-silence all around them. No whistle of the breeze, no footfalls of humans or animals, or the sound of water from the lake. Like it had been silenced.

"Uh, Rogue?" asked Kurt, looking uneasy and concerned at the same time, "Are you okay?"

Rogue didn't answer right away. The sudden realization of it being dead silent spooked her, which was a rare occurrence for her. The tension in her body was growing.

"Uh," she spoke hesitantly, "Who turned off the sound?"

The others looked confused, but then the realization sunk in. "You know," Evan said quietly, "It does seem a little quiet here all of a sudden."

Everyone was noticing how eerily silent the air was. The thudding and thumping of their hearts were the only things that they were hearing.

"Kurt," said Kitty, her eyes darting this way and that.

"Yes," the image-inducer disguised mutant answered, sounding a little uneasy himself.

"I have that feeling all of a sudden. Like we're----,"

"Being vatched," Kurt finished for her, indicating he was feeling the same way.

"Right," said Kitty, still looking out cautiously.

Everyone was suddenly uptight and tense. Rogue appeared to have been right, for even Logan himself was noticing how eerily quiet it was. Something was not quite right here. And it didn't feel like it was good. The thought of being watched by an unseen unpredictable mutant with dangerous powers would be enough to unnerve anyone. Maybe that wasn't the case, but the thought was unsettling.

"Maybe, this isn't such a good idea," said Rogue finally, "Maybe weh should look some place else."

"We gotta look here first, Stripes," Logan disagreed, "If this kid was in this spot, then he's gotta be around here somewhere."

Suddenly a small clang made everyone snap around. It sounded like a metal pan or rod hitting rock. The sound was not unusual, but the sudden unexpectedness of it made everyone snap around, unsure of what was happening.

"What was that?" asked Evan quickly, his heart racing.

"Just the wind, I hope," answered Kitty nervously, her eyes a little wider now. But it was clear it wasn't the wind, for there was none around them. The air was stone still. No air movement at all. The feeling of having a pair of unseen eyes on them was growing by the second.

Scott was the first to regain his guard. "Well, guys," he said, "We've looked all over this lot and there's no sign of this Simon Valley anywhere."

No sooner than Scott said that, a sign of movement appeared. A second of it. That was all the time it took up. A small sliver of shadow moved across the wall of a building. Then all was still again. However, everyone noticed it. All of them were looking at the spot where the shadow had moved on. The tension in the air was now almost physical.

"No," said Kurt, nervously, "But, I zhink zere's someone else here."

His words did noting to dampen out the feeling of the group. If anything, it made them even more overwhelming.

Rogue was suddenly as tight as a spring with tension. All this strange tracking and the sudden dead end was making her uneasy, but now her spine felt like it was sheathed in ice. All this reminded her a phrase she once had read in a horror novel she owned; _Demons of the Dark_. She really felt like a pair of strange eyes was on her. The feeling was now so strong it was almost physical. As the group was starting to look back at one another, Rogue slowly turned, reluctantly back to the way they had come. And what she saw made her freeze.

A tall teenage boy wearing blue jeans and a black leather jacket over a black turtleneck was standing in the darkness, standing over 70 feet away from her and the rest of the X-Men. His blond hair glinted in the cold moonlight as the angle of the moon made his body cast a long shadow on the concrete pavement of the loading area. He was looking straight at her with fierce, penetrating green eyes. He stood still as a statue, not moving at all. It was Simon Peter Valley.

"Rogue?" she heard Kitty say, "Hey, Rogue, are you okay?" But Rogue was still too struck by the sudden appearance of the new mutant. Simon's gaze seemed to hold her in place. He had the most penetrating stare she had ever encountered. It was almost frightening.

Kitty was looking at Rogue, confused at first as to why her roommate had not responded to her question and even more confused by Rogue's startled and stunned expression. She then looked in the direction where Rogue was looking, and froze as well, seeing the new mutant fixing her in place with his fierce, unrelenting stare.

By then the others in the group had noticed that Rogue and Kitty were staring in shock and wonder at something and were looking to see what was making them so uptight. Seeing the latest mutant of Cerebro's detection made them stop moving for a second to regard this new mutant.

"Is that him?" Evan whispered to anyone who would answer.

"Yes, that's him," Jean whispered, "that's Simon Valley."

The blond-haired mutant remained very, very still, his hands in his jacket pockets. He didn't even move a muscle. If he wasn't flesh and blood, he could have passed as a statue. The X-Men suddenly found that Simon's aura was not of a calming type. His eyes were as fierce as the eyes of a jungle cat ready to pounce. His silence and fierce gaze made them uneasy on approaching him. He was five eleven at 150 pounds. And he didn't look friendly.

As the X-Men continued to stare at their latest recruit, if he were to be that later on, they saw an eerie bright blue glow appear in Simon's eyes making look like featureless blue orbs of energy in his head and utterly alien, driving off any human feature they had contained previously.

_Like goblin eyes_, thought Rogue, shivering a little at Simon's eye energy.

Kitty started to back away. "Who wants to go ask him?" she asked, smiling nervously.

"You go, Kitty. I zhink you'll do fine" said Kurt.

"No you go," said Kitty.

"No, you go," insisted Kurt.

Simon's eyes suddenly lost theirglow and returned to human form. Then, without saying a word or even sparing them a second glance, he turned and started to walk away.

"Jean, stop him," said Scott suddenly.

"With what?" asked Jean, confused by Scott order.

"Use your telekinesis," said Scott, "Hurry."

Jean looked back to Simon and reached out with her hand as her telekinesis went into action. The retreating teenager suddenly started to lift off the group as if pulled upward by an invisible rope or string. He looked down at himself with shock and surprise, trying to figure out what was happening.

"Try to pull him back," said Scott.

Jean was about to comply, but suddenly, the mutant whipped his head and body around to face the group once more. His blank expression had been replaced by an aggressive glare. But what really go their attention was that his eyes were glowing blue again. The glow was brighter and bluer than it had been earlier. His eyes now almost looked like blue suns flaring out from his face. As the group watched, a fierce blue light appeared around Simon's right hand, enveloping his right forearm up to the elbow, the glow intensifying with each second as if it was charging up for an attack.

"Uh-oh," said Evan fearfully, memories of the Scarlet Witch preparing to do a hex power magic show suddenly resurfacing, "This doesn't look promising."

"Ah think you should put em down, Jean," said Rogue quickly, looking from Jean back towards Simon. The blue glow on his arm was now so bright that it was almost impossible to look at it with the naked eye.

Suddenly, Simon raised his right arm, the fore part of it now looking like an appendage completely composed of blue light, and thrust it towards the X-Men. A beam of energy shot forward from Simon's energy arm, sending a flashacross his body. At first the X-men thought Simon was firing the beam from his hand. But then they realized the beam WAS his hand. Simon had actually turned part of his body into energy and was using it like an energy blaster.

"GET OUT OF THE WAY!" Logan bellowed as the energy beam darted towards them. Everyone tried to scatter, but the beam was moving too fast to avoid. It struck the ground less than three feet in front of the X-Men. A flash of blue light blinded them for a second as the beam hit, smashing a section of the concrete pavement to dust.

The X-Men were now in battle mode awareness, but they were also trying to think of how to approach this and recruit him.

Jean had been nearest, and the impact of the energy had been strong enough to knock her down. Scott saw this foremost and before anyone else could react to Simon's attack, the young leader was on his feet, a look of anger on his face, which was what he was feeling, for the attack had almost hurt the woman he loved.

The others looked at Scott with wonder at what he was doing. Scott placed his hands on his red shades and lowered them, the ruby-colored glow of his optic blasts that his body had produced by converting the energy from the environment into concussive energy flaring to life. Jean was about to protest to Scott to not use his optic blasts, but Scott was already opening his eyes, ready to release the deadly red beams. Jean looked and saw that Simon, who was now climbing to his feet after being dropped, had an intense glow of his own around his eyes.

At that second, Scott's red force beams fired towards Simon, who fired his blue ones at the same instant. The two optic blasts of opposing colors were aimed at the other person, but suddenly, there as loud crash of energy on energy. The sudden flash was bright enough to blind everyone for a second, but then the sudden blindness faded and the X-Men looked on to see a sight they had never seen before. Scott and Simon were in an optic blast jousting match with each other. Scott's red beams were pushing against Simon's blue beams, which were doing to same to Scott's. Kitty, Rogue, and Evan, who were on one side were struck by the display, as Jean, Kurt, and Logan carefully stood off to the other side, just as surprised as the rest. Of all the things they had seen as X-Men, this was one of the most amazing. Seeing two mutants with eye energy beams trying to overcome the other was not something you saw every day. Not even in the X-Men.

Scott could feel the pressure inside his head increasing as he continued to try to overpower Simon's eye beams. The longer Scott held his eyes open, the more energy his eyes would release. Right now, the headaches and tiredness were starting to take hold and Scott knew his optic blasts were growing stronger, and when his blasts grew stronger, his body grew weaker. He could feel the pressure of Simon's energy failing to stand up to his optic blasts. Suddenly, in a flash of pain, a huge burst of concussive force exerted itself along Scott's optic blasts and reached the point where the red and blue energy were pressing against each other. The enormous force was more that Simon's beams could push back and Scott's blasts reached Simon's body. Scott's beam struck Simon in the chest, lifting him off his feet and sending him flying backward through the air. He smashed into a stack of crates, the wooden boxes tipping over and crashing to ground from the momentum as the crates Simon himself hit were dented from the impact. The force didn't knock Simon unconscious, but it was more than enough to stun him and leave him momentarily dazed.

"Jean," Scott asked, turning back to Jean and the others, "Are you all right?"

The young woman nodded, for she was still struggling with that eye beam contest the two mutants had just fought. One look at Simon's form however, obliterated her wonder on how Scott had won. Simon had climbed to his feet, and was looking really ready for a rematch. His eyes were still flaring . Both his hands had transformed into energy, blue lightning snaking over the appendages like tentacles. He raised the hands in preparation to attack, the energy crackling and snapping around his hands and fingers as he was manipulating his energies into an eletrical state.

"Look out!" shouted Scott, as everyone got ready to dodge.

A tremendous burst of the electricity shot from Simon's hand as it separated itself from its source, then another blast from his other hand, then again from the other.

"Incoming!" Evan called out unnecessarily as theblasts ofdarted to them like a swarm of angry giant hornets.

Kitty was right in the line of fire of one of the blasts. She was scared at the sight of the blue energy. She had no time to dodge. So instead, she activated her phasing powers, rendering herself intangible. The bolts passed through her and struck what was behind her, exploding as clouds of lightning and sparks.

Kurt grabbed hold of Rogue and teleported them several feet away from where they were, just as a blast reached the spot they had occupied.

Evan himself was firing a few of his spikes at the blasts, striking them with enough force to disrupt them and make them destabilize. The spike themselves burned with the electricity as they struck several of them falling to the ground and smoking from the burns. Others had actually caught flames and were burning.

Jean and Scott were beside themselves. Jean had erected one of her psychic shields around herself and Scott for protection. Simon's electrical blasts struck the shield, but were unable to penetrate. Scott fired several optic blasts at the incoming missiles, causing the blasts to explode in bursts of bright flashes before fading away.

"Any ideaz on how to deal vith diz guy, Logan?" Kurt called to Logan, who was growling.

"We gotta slow this kid up!" Logan said over the sound of electricity crackling and popping, "Elf! See if you can teleport Rogue in close and drain him off a little!" Rogue was caught off guard by the idea of absorbing this mutant's powers. When she had absorbed Storm, she hadn't been able to control her powers of weather manipulation. The thought of what could happen if she absorbed this guy's powers made her more than uneasy. However, she lost any chance of saying that, for Kurt grabbed her.

"Get ready to absorb, Rogue," he instructed.

BAMF!

Within a second, Rogue and Kurt were right next to Simon. Simon, who had up until now been distracted by firing his bolts, suddenly realized that two of the strange teenagers were now standing beside him. He looked at them, startled by the sudden appearance they made. The glow in his eyes suddenly vanished, his hands now flesh and blood again. "Hey, how'd you get here?" Simon demanded in shocked surprise.

Kurt used his superior speed and agility to leap over Simon's head and land behind him. He could see that Simon was too caught off guard to attack, which was fine by him. Kurt was thinking that he really didn't want to fight this guy, but they were defending themselves. But wasn't that what Simon was doing?

Kurt landed as light-footed as a cat behind Simon's back and wrapped his arms around Simon's arms and torso. Simon was still too surprised by the teleportation and Kurt's acrobatic prowess to respond with his own powers. What also surprised him was Kurt's strength. The younger boy was stronger than he looked and was holding Simon's arms to his sides with a surprisingly strong grip.

"Now, Rogue," Kurt told her as he struggled to keep Simon still.

"What are you doing?" Simon demanded, becoming hostile and aggressive in his struggles.

Rogue quickly removed the glove on her left hand and began to reach for Simon's face, unprotected by clothing. Simon didn't know what this strange gothic girl was up to, but his gut told him it was not going to be pleasant.

Rogue was about to touch Simon's bare skin when she saw his green eyes flareelectrical blue. Simon's arms were pinned, but he managed to reach up and grab Rogue's arm with his right hand. Then, to Rogue's fear, Simon raised his left hand, blue energy replacing his bone and flesh hand and a stream of the energy sprang from it.

The intention that Simon had was to try to blast her backward, she was sure of it. However, to Rogue's surprise, she felt no blast or sudden impact on her body. Instead, she felt some type of force close around her, like a solid belt pinning her arms to her sides. Only when she looked down did she see that she was indeed in that situation, a glowing blue field of energy was wrapped around her like a rope, holding her arms securely to her sides. Rogue sturggled but the energy bond was too strong to break free from.

Rogue suddenly was lifted up and then thrown. Then she was flung back towards the other X-Men, who were coming closer in order to help. The throw was not very strong, but it was enough to send her a fair distance from Simon before she could touch him.

Kurt saw Rogue get tossed aside by Simon's blue levitation energy, and he then realized that Simon may do a trick similar to that one on him. He was right. At that moment, Kurt felt his wrists being grabbed and forced apart. With a flick of the wrist, Simon captured Kurt in his energy snare and threw him towards the others just like he did with Rogue.

Logan was there as Kurt traveled and caught him. The fuzzy elf landed not-too-gracefully into the big man's arms, but he quickly was on his feet again. Logan growled, his attack instincts kicking into overdrive.

"Everyone, fall back!" he ordered, and then said nothing more on his part. This confused the others, but before they could say anything, Logan whipped out his adamantium claws.

Logan saw Simon's eyes widen in shock and amazement. Clearly this kid had never seen weapons like those Wolverine had. Logan brought up his powerful arms into a fighting stance. He had guessed this kid was not the peaceful type of recruit, so it only stood to reason to use a different approach. Now that the kid was stunned by the discovery of Logan's claws, Logan could easily overtake him by taking advantage of his shock.

But Simon, however, quickly recovered from his shock and his eyes regained their blue glow and fierce glare. Logan tensed up, ready to dodge any sort of beam that Simon might throw. But instead, Simon raised both his arms upward, both his forearms energy now. Suddenly, instead of shooting beams, the arms changed shape. The hands and fingers vanished, and each appendage grew straight and sharp. As they X-Men watched in amazement, Simon's forearms turned into two blue energy blades, both of them three feet long and as wide as a small book.

"Whoa!" Scott gasped, "The Professor never said he could do that!"

"Did you see zhat!" Kurt asked Kitty in surprise.

Kitty could only stare.

Logan seemed surprised as well, but it quickly vanished. For a second, Simon and Logan merely stood still and gazed at each other, each of them judging the other for an opening.

Simon was the first to attack, his blue eyes and bladed arms glowing brightly. The young mutant raised his right arm and swung it with all his strength at Logan's head.

Logan had more than enough time to block the attack. The blade struck the metal of Logan's claws, flashing as it did. However, the blade didn't even dent the adamantium. Simon was focusing to make his energy act like a solid metal blade and no heat, electricity, or explosive power, for he only wanted some strong blades that wouldn't go dull. Logan had had years of training to build his skills with his claws and now he could use them as skillfully as a swordsman now, elagently and with dengerous grace and speed. Simon's attack on him, however, was at a clumsy angle and was fairly slow. It had an awkward swing in it too. The kid clearly didn't know how to use bladed weapons the right way. He wasn't skilled in the use of this kind of tool. Logan suddenly realized that he could easily win this struggle.

The onlookers could only watch. They hoped that no harm would come to either fighter. Simon's blue blades pressed on Logan's claws, the two weapons rubbing and pushing against each other, energy grating on metal. The teenage was then pushed back as Logan used his superior strength to get some distance.

Simon stumbled back several feet and almost fell to the ground from losing his balance. However, he managed to regain his stance and came back to get another swing at Logan. He slashed at Logan with his blades, but Logan blocked the attack easily. Logan felt the kid pushing against his claws harder than he had earlier, as if trying to force Logan off his feet and gain an advantage. Simon's force was considerable, but Logan was still able to easily keep his stance. Using his own 200-pound frame, which was made even heavier by the adamantium lacing his skeleton, and forcing more muscle power into his already considerable force, Logan gave a stronger push on Simon. This time, Simon was unable to stay on his feet and landed flat on his back several feet from Logan.

Scott, Jean, and all the others exchanged glances as they saw the two mutants struggling to gain advantage over the other. Now they decided was as good a time as any to intervene. Maybe now they could ease Simon down enough to talk to him.

Just by looking up at the formidable muscular man who had the metal blades extending out from between his knuckles, a killer aggressive look on his face, Simon knew he was losing this fight badly. He could tell this knife-handed man was far stronger than he was and was not afraid to use his strength in a fight, and on top of that, he had more than enough tools and force to win a fight. His blades had turned back into his ordinary human arms, for falling had made him lose the great concentration it always took for him to form bladed weapons out of himself. But he decided to use a different approach.

Logan started towards the kid, but froze as he saw Simon raise his hand once again, energy now enveloping his hand before his hand itself became energy. Simon morphed his hand into a beam and let it fly, snatching Logan in the energy line and lifting him. With a quick movement of his arm, the teenager sent Logan towards the other X-Men, who now saw what was happening and were trying to decide on how to react. Logan crashed into Scott and Evan, who they themselves fell back under Logan's weight.

"Ooooff!" Scott groaned as Logan crashed into him and Evan. The others were there to help.

"Are you alright, Mr. Logan?" asked Kitty, helping the big man up as best she could. Kitty wasn't a strong girl, but she did have a certain amount of physical ability.

"Yeah, I'm fine, Half-Pint," said Logan as he climbed to his feet before the others helped Scott and Evan up.

"Scott?" Jean asked.

"I'm fine, Jean," he assured her, hoping it would. He straightened his ruby-quartz glasses. That was when he noticed Simon's energy powers flaring up to life again.

"Uh, guys," Scott pointed. The others looked and their faces suddenly went fearful.

"I don't like the looks of this," said Kitty.

Strange flame-like wisps began to come off the appendages as his arms became bright blue energy, like blue fire was flaming on the surface of his energized skin. Molten energy began to intensify into hot blue plasma as Simon morphed his energy into explosive fiery power. Simon raised both hands up and fired the energy.

The X-Men barely had time to react, for Simon's speed surprised them. A huge beam of the energy moved towards them as Simon's two hands merged together and formed a huge ray of molten power. Blue plasma energy screamed through the air.

The amount of time the X-Men had to dodge was like the blink of an eye. But they managed to dodge just in time, the blue plasma beam sailing harmlessly past them. The air around them suddenly became blistering hot, the molten energy heating the air around them. Rogue felt a sudden heat wave wash over her, the heat making her sweat, but not so much as the intensity of the attack.

The sound of the beam striking something made everyone turn their heads just enough to see. The beam struck a very small building, beside which was a stack of crates. As soon as the beam struck, the entire structure burst into flame and exploded, flaming pieces of wreckage and rubble flying like a shower of hailstones, bits of wood and tiles raining down on the X-Men and over the loading area. The crates immediately caught fire under the immense heat and the concussive force from the blast made them smash and splinter like they were made of glass, bits of flaming wood scattering.

The X-Men had to cover their eyes from the flash. The blast from the attack was a true explosion, it had all the parts; heat, fire, shockwaves, everything. And the X-Men felt all these as well. Rogue felt her eyes start to water from the heat. This couldn't be happening. Burning crates started to crash to the pavement, smashing and breaking apart as they fell. Small balls of fire fell all around, dotting the pavement with flames.

Everyone turned back to the person who had thrown the beam. Simon's hands were normal again, his eyes lacking the blue glow. He then turned and fled.

"Come on," said Scott, "We can't lose him."

No one needed to be told twice. Everyone scrambled to their feet and took off after him. If the X-Men could ever give out a recruiting award from being the most extreme, this case would most likely win that prize.

* * *

Well folks that was the first part of the characters meeting each other and the first major action scene of this fic. I hope it was as intense and entertaining as you hoped! The second part of this chapter will be up soon, with the conclusion of Simon's first meeting with the X-Men. Like this? Hate this? Review and tell me what you think. I thirst for reviews! 


	8. Encounter with the XMen, Part 2

I'm back with this fic's newest and latest chapter addition. So far this fic has gone fairly smoothly and I hope it will run smoother in the future, considering I keep it that way! The plot is thickening and the second half of meeting the X-Men face to face is underway!

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Encounter with the X-Men, Part 2**

If anyone would say how he or she saw this recruitment mission, the first most likely response would be it was not starting off on the right foot. And to be honest, that was probably putting it mildly.

Scott Summers was wondering just how much trouble it was going to be to get through to this new guy. He had remembered Professor Xavier telling him and the rest of those with him that he was not a person who trusted others as easily as he could, and on top of that, he had a rather volatile temperament if he felt threatened or was angered enough. Scott Summers was no stranger to dealing with people with rather explosive defensive instincts, nor was he inexperienced in fighting opponents with considerable abilities in their possession. But right now in this chase, which seemed to be the combination of several different recruiting scenarios, Scott's instincts were uncertain with him, a condition that was a rarity with the young deputy leader.

As the X-Men struggled to climb to their feet, they saw their target running away from them toward a passageway between what appeared to be a warehouse and a small factory building. This new mutant was obviously in good shape. And considering the fact that his body was a living mutant energy dynamo that knew instinctively when to generate energy of a certain type to fit the conditions, it was possible that he could run pretty quickly for a fairly long time without tiring, not with super speed like the Brotherhood's Quicksilver, but still fairly fast. But then again, the X-Men engaged in regular intensive exercise themselves, and that would help even the odds.

The area around them was a battlefield, in a literal sense. The small storage shed near the middle of the large loading dock had been destroyed by Simon's plasma attack, leaving a flaming foundation that bore only the most superficial resemblance to anything that was part of a building. The three stacks of crates that had been near the shed were in no better condition. Most of them had been completely incinerated by the intense thermal properties of the plasma energy. Those that had not been vaporized by the heat itself were now in splintered fragments of all sizes that were burning themselves and covered the concrete pavement like black snowflakes, small fires dotting the dock. And on the side of all the fire and rubble that Simon had produced by his plasma beam, there was a pulverized section of pavement over two feet wide created by his force blast and blackened areas where his electrical bolts had scorched the stone, leaving charred impact scars.

The X-Men ran through the flaming wreckage around them, waving aside clouds of smoke that were billowing from the burning crates. Their Danger Room training was coming in handy right now. One of the major things that were needed in a battle was to be able to get back on your feet as quickly as possible, even in the wake of a rather impacting attack. Simon's last attack on the team had left them off guard and somewhat disoriented, for they hadn't expected Simon to use such a powerful blast like that on them. But all this considered, they had shook off their surprise and confusion and were now up and running like that had done so many times in the past.

The smoke and ashy atmosphere suddenly cleared as the X-Men were leaving the loading dock as they went off after the new mutant. The chase so far had been fairly easy going, for it had only been looking for their latest target. But now the genie was out of the bottle and the engines of adrenaline for both parties were in overdrive. Neither side had been aware of what their opponents were capable of, nor had they anticipated how they would react to the actions and defensive measures of the other. But right now, it was obvious each party was willing to dish out anything to win the struggle. In Simon Valley's case however, that would probably prove to be destructive in a big way.

Scott and Logan were in the lead of the X-Men, while Jean and Kurt were close behind. Kitty, Rogue and Evan were bringing up the rear nice and quickly. Their target had gotten a fair distance from by now, but with Logan's sense of smell and hearing, Jean's telepathy, and Kurt's night-vision, there was more than a fair chance that they could track Simon down, no matter where he ran or where he hid. The next part would then be talking to him and assuring them they were here to help. That was not going to be easy with the way Simon had reacted to them, but they would just have to cross the bridge when they came to it.

* * *

Metal knives in the hands? Red beams from the eyes? Suddenly appearing out of nowhere in the blink of an eye with a puff of brimstone smoke? The questions were flying through Simon's mind faster than he could process them. The human brain was a remarkable piece of biological circuitry of neurons and brain cells, but it had limits as to how much it could work out. And because Simon was torn between getting as far away from his attackers as possible and trying to make sense of this all at the same time, his mental strength was starting to get overworked, and his mental state was something about him that not even his energy powers could recharge. 

He'd been able to keep those strange people at arm's length, but only just. And the reason for that was occupying the greatest portion of Simon's mind. Those teenagers, some his age and some younger, and that big man were on his mind hugely. They had just confronted him and had displayed some abilities that couldn't be human. Human. That was the key word in that sentence. Simon couldn't help but wonder if they were like him in any way. Wait, like him? What did that mean? _Why_ did that mean?

Simon wondered if he really should have fired that beam as an explosive one. Simon had intended to momentarily stun them, knock them off their feet. Well, needless to say, he had succeeded in his intention, but he was starting to second guess the means by which he had. Certainly he didn't need to blow something up like he had done to that small storage building. In addition, he could have gotten the same result by using something less deadly than an explosion. Perhaps he had made a mistake.

No, that was way off. He HAD made a mistake. He could have accidentally killed one or more of them easily if they hadn't dodged out of the way. Kill. That was something he was always trying to avoid when he used his powers to help, kind like when he helped out those two girls in that warehouse just yesterday evening. So why in heaven's name did heuse explosive energy back there? The answer immediately popped up. He'd freaked, been desperate enough to try and get away using whatever he could think of. And he had chosen to use something far too powerful for that simple task without thinking it through. Simon considered himself lucky there, but mostly it was pure error in judgment.

Now that group of teens and man were probably thinking that he had tried to kill them. If they were thinking that, then he was up to his neck in trouble. That was probably the reason they were chasing him to begin with. All Simon had intended was to momentarily stun them, but instead he had exploded a storage shed, left a loading area in flames, and, more than likely, those weird people were pursuing him because of what they though he tired to do.

_Mental note to self_, he thought as he ran, _Never, ever make your energy explosive when people are involved_.

The young blond mutant looked over his shoulder at the dock he had just left. The seven figures were already on their feet and giving chase. Simon already knew that he was at several disadvantages. For one thing, it was his one against their seven. He was outnumbered. In addition, from what he had seen, they really knew how to use their powers, or abilities, or whatever in the world they were, while he on the other had, knew only simple stop and shoot and reshape. They had mastery; while he only had skills he had taught himself. And since he was no expert to his weird abilities, it was less that reliable. Judging from his experiences, these folks had good training, the type a person couldn't give to him or herself. Considering those conditions, none of which were in his favor, Simon knew he had to avoid a direct confrontation as best he could. One of the things he had learned from his martial arts instructors was to never be involved in a fight, unless you were certain you could win it. And in his place fight now, Simon wasn't sure of anything. But if there was one thing that he was more uncertain of than anything else, it was emerging from this victorious.

That is, if he ended up in the hand-to-hand confrontation he really wanted to avoid.

* * *

Scott and Logan and the others were starting to really pick up speed as Simon Valley continued to make his escape. Of all the recruiting missions they had been on before now, this was clearly one of the most difficult. 

"Do you think this dude ever greets people with a simple handshake?" asked Evan as they ran.

"Maybe you can, like, ask him that when we get to him, Evan," said Kitty.

"Yeah, as long as he doesn't go Mutant Super Laser on us," the skateboarding teenager groaned, "He almost barbequed us like hamburgers back there."

"No kidding," said Kurt.

"Come on, people," Scott broke that train of thought, "Let's focus."

Simon was no longer gaining distance from the group. The speed was now equal. They continued following him until the exited the alley that they had run through, coming out into a large open piece of street. This piece of blacktop was as wide as the city streets they had just been driving over while they were in the X-Van. Here, there was little moonlight, for the tall buildings and walls cast dark shadows that blanketed the ground in dark shades. There were also several garbage cans and boxes lines up along the walls, as well as several piles of wooden crates that possibly could have come from the loading area they had just fought in.

The X-Men found themselves at a T-shaped section. There was no straight ahead passage here, only paths that led either to the right or to the left. Having no idea which way to turn, the group started looking both ways at once, hoping to catch a glimpse of the fleeing mutant before he escaped form them once again.

Kurt suddenly saw the dark silhouette of a human hurrying down the path to the right of them, growing smaller with distance. "Zhere!" he exclaimed, pointing to Simon's dark outline.

"I see him!" Kitty responded, pointing as well.

The others didn't say anything, just took off after Simon. They were still contemplating on how they would speak to Simon when they caught up to him when they all saw the young man swerve his upper so that he was looking at them as he ran. Simon's eyes were once again filled with bright blue energy, his left arm transforming into an appendage of raw power, strange mist-like pulses of blue radiance surrounding the limb.

Simon shot out his arm, which morphed into a brilliant stream of electromagnetic force. The blast spiraled into a sharp powerful beam of blue power as it fired through the air towards his pursuers, casting a hot blue flash throughout the roadway. The X-Men were blinded by the sudden glare of the beam, but they knew well enough that Simon was using his powerful energy abilities to discourage them from pursuing him, but considering all the missions and training sessions they had been through, it was nothing that original. Evan and Kurt immediately sprang to one side, avoiding the beam by several feet. Kitty, however, was still caught off guard by the fierce blue light the beam was giving off.

"Kitty, watch out!" called out Scott.

Kitty heard him well enough over the strange hum and ring of the beam, and instinctively gasped. She then used her powers and phased herself into the blacktop under her feet, disappearing from sight.

The electromagnetic beam passed through the space Kitty had occupied seconds before, but since she was no longer there, it struck only air and kept traveling. It smashed into a brick wall of a building on the left-hand side of the roadway, creating a blinding flash-bang and bathing a large portion of the wall in an unstable electromagnetic charge field. Part of the wall then burst outward and inward simultaneously, disintegrating the bricks and cement that held them together, leaving a large gapping hole in the wall.

"Geez!" Evan commented, as he saw the impact of the beam from where he lay on the street "Why can't this dude just give us a nice hello and be done with it?"

"Why don't ya just ask him when we get him!" Rogue remarked as she pulled her self up as quickly as she could and wiped some gravel off her purple, shoulder-less top.

Farther ahead of the group, Simon Valley continued to make his escape from them. The blond-haired teenager was still running fast, and was showing no real signs of tiring. And if the past few minutes were anything to go by, he wasn't going to tire anytime soon. Scott Summers figured that Simon's energy powers provided him with higher stamina than the average person, or mutant. And it seemed that his assumptions were indeed correct.

The X-Men saw Simon look back again over his leather jacket-clad shoulder at them. Even though it was dark and his face was a fair distance away from them, the X-Men could see the surprise and frustration in his expression. Apparently, Simon had thought that his beams and blasts could make them think twice about approaching him. And he was slowly learning that he wasn't dealing with average chasers. Simon looked forward again and started to pick up on his foot speed, going faster. As their target was gaining distance from them, the X-Men themselves started to accelerate their velocity.

* * *

Running and trying to outpace them simply wasn't working. And honestly, trying to throw a beam or blast their way to give additional road hazards was not of much use either. Simon was a person who liked things to be rather straightforward and planned out ahead of time if they were events involving other people besides himself. But right now, he was playing this by the seat of his pants, something he was not particularly fond of doing, not even when best course of action was provided for him. 

Simon suddenly saw another chain link gate up ahead. This one as well, was fastened with a chain. Just like last time. People sure used chains a lot these days. Beyond the door was what appeared to be a stairway leading upwards to some high risen platform. Simon couldn't make out just what exactly was up there, for his was not in his armored state, and lacked the bizarre senses that form granted him. Simon dismissed that thought, for he had no time to stop and transform. If he did, those weird people with the strange powers would see him. Which was less that desirable.

As Simon continued to run towards the door, his eyes filled up with their trademark blue glow, making them featureless with the light and color. The color and light grew brighter as Simon brought his eye blast to a full charge. With a flash, a burst of kinetic force shot out of Simon's eyeballs and struck the doors dead center with the lock and chain in its path. The force pushed the doors backward, shattering the lock and chain in the process and leaving the doors wide open. Simon had long ago discovered that his eye blasts were considerably less powerful than the blasts he could shoot from his hands and arms. That piece of knowledge was really useful because he use relatively small bursts for small tasks like this.

Simon raced through the doors and started to climb the steps that led up the platform above. With any luck, it could provide some cover or hiding spot.

* * *

The last glimpse of Simon that the X-Men managed to catch before it vanished into the darkness was the human-shaped shadow image of the teenager hurrying through a chain link door and up a flight of stairs. This chase was starting to change modes, at least that was what it seemed, going from tag and bag to hide and seek. But with their additional abilities, the X-Men were more that able to track this guy down. 

"He's heading up those stairs," Scott said to his friends, just in case they did see where Simon was heading. Obviously they had.

The group of mutants quickly hurried up the stairs, retracing Simon's steps as perfectly as could be expected. They wondered what they would find once they reached the top of the stairway. Another long corridor with Simon at the end? A large open spot with plenty of things to hide behind? Or perhaps maybe even Simon Valley standing right in front of them, ready to hit them with nothing short of an all out blast of fire and lightning? Too many possibilities to think about. Leave that for later.

The sight that did greet their eyes once they reached the top of the stairs was something that was sort of surprising and sort of wasn't. First off, they saw no sign of a mutant ready to hit them with an energy blast, nor was there a long narrow corridor right in front of them. What they did find, was something else, and it was nevertheless unsettling in it's own way.

The seven mutants were staring at a large raised concrete platform or loading dock, or whatever was the proper term for it. This platform was overlooking a waterway that led out the wide spread lake and there were docks on both sides of it. The side of the platform immediately near the X-Men was lined with the sides of buildings and large doors as the platform itself was dotted with stacks of crates and wrapped up packages, a single forklift sitting on an open spot. And on the far side of the platform, there was a large drop that led either to the waterway or a lower platform, while docks and boats were on the other side of the water.

The first thing they did once they reached their current position was look over the location to see if there was any movement of any kind, a shadow gliding over ground, an object in motion from external stimuli, or maybe even a living thing in motion. What they saw was stone stillness. As if everything was frozen in time.

"Are you sure he came this way, cause I, like, don't see him anywhere," said Kitty.

Logan's superb hearing head Kitty, but he was focusing too much on what sounds could give a hint of where this kid could be hiding to really pay attention. He couldn't hear footsteps, so the kid was not running anywhere.

"He's here," said Logan, "I can smell him. He's close. Real close."

"So where is he then?" demanded Evan, getting into his old impatient teenager mode once again. If anything, Logan could guess Evan was hoping to use his power of accelerated bone growth on Simon, trap him in a bone spike cage or pin him to a wall like a butterfly. But Evan was too cocky too much of the time, too arrogant. _If Porcupine doesn't watch his back, this new kid could do some shootin' of his own_, thought Logan.

The former Weapon-X soldier sniffed the air again. He was definitely picking up Simon's scent, which meant two things; Simon was still in reach, and was not in his armored, powered up form. Both good signs and sure indicators they were nearing their target.

"He's close, I can smell him."

Jean, meanwhile, was placing her hands to her temples, trying to sense Simon's brainwave patterns. "He's somewhere on this platform," said Jean, "But I'm having trouble pinpointing his exact location."

"Well, let's keep looking," said Scott, "He must be nearby."

As the conversation was taking place, Rogue was thinking on how things may have turned out differently if she had somehow managed to use her absorption power on Simon. But the possibilities were not very comforting. If she had managed to absorb Simon powers and memories, it was likely to have given her several advantages. For one thing, she could have learned of why he was acting so defensively to them and how he discovered that they were looking for him. And in addition, she could used Simon's own power against him, which more than likely could have given her the advantage making Simon get a taste of what it was like to be on the receiving end of his powers.

But then again, Rogue was glad she hadn't absorbed Simon's powers. Seeing what he had done back there, she could tell Simon's powers were at least, destructive. It really reminded Rogue of seeing Storm use her weather manipulation powers, which were awesome displays of power and natural phenomena. When Rogue had first absorbed Storm, the power of her mutant abilities flowing through her body and energizing her to the core had almost made Rogue pass out from sheer mental and physical exhaustion. If that happened with Storm, there was no telling what would happen if Simon was absorbed instead.

"Maybe he'z trying to ambush uz," said Kurt, "Get uz off guard."

"Hey, no sweat, K-man," said Evan, "The Spike Man will be ready." To prove his point, Evan raised his right arm, the outer part of it lined with needle-sharp bone protrusions with an extra long spine protruding from each of his knuckles. Evan's boastful comment was not really that amusing, but Rogue was more concerned of how this new mutant would react if Evan went bone blaster on him. And so was Kurt.

"Evan, yah gotta put those things away," said Rogue.

Evan looked at Rogue in surprise. "What?"

Kurt jumped in at that moment. "You remember seeing how he reacted to Logan's claws? If he seez you trying to shish kabob him on bone, he may blast you into next Tuezday," Kurt explained. Evan seemed to understand, but he still didn't retract his spikes.

For a brief second, the X-Men merely stood still and waited, wondering when the next sign of this guy would appear. They were thinking of all the possible sings that could present if Simon tired to escape yet again. If anything, he may quietly slip away out from under their noses in an attempt of evasion. But Simon had already unknowlingly given them proof that he couldn't do that. Logan had his scent, and therefore could track him down easily as long as he didn't go armored and shielded his scent by his mutant carapace. But even if he did that, his armor still wouldn't block Jean's telepathy. Simon's head armor didn't function the way Juggernaut's helmet did. As long as Juggernaut had his helmet on, telepathy in any form couldn't get through to his mind. But Jean had already sensed Simon's mind when he was armored, which was evidence that his mind was vulnerable at all times, even when his secondary mutation was active.

As before, there was the eerie silence of total stillness for the X-Men, but they had been in this exact situation before, and had seen some nasty results of what followed. Simon had to be close. As far as their observations went, and Xavier's observations with Cerebro, he didn't have an ability that allowed him to disappear entirely. So he had to be close by.

"Could this guy have, like, teleportation?" asked Kitty, "He's nowhere around here." She looked for any sign of Simon's form, finding nothing.

"I think that if he did, the professor vould have told uz," said Kurt, "I don't remember him telling us he had zhat sort of power."

"He's here as well, Half-pint," said Logan, "I can smell him. So he's not armored up or anything. He's real close."

Kitty took Logan's words into account, but she as still wondering as to where Simon actually was. This dock had plenty of places to keep out of sight; piles of crates and wooden boxes, and not to mention all the shadows and dark spots that corners and walls created that cast dark curtains over large spaces. They were good hiding spots at night. She remembered that Simon had been wearing dark blue jeans, as well as a black leather jacket and black shirt, so he could easily blend into those dark spots.

The silence of the dock continued to stretch longer and longer and still the group saw no trace of movement that could indicate Simon's presence. There was nothing moving. Dead silence all around.

"I'm seriously telling you guys, this is more like a scavenger hunt than a recruiting mission," said Kitty, "I'm starting to get a little freak by all this searching and looking."

"Never one for challenges, eh, Half-pint?" asked Logan, who only smiled at Kitty's statement. Leave it to Logan, the ever-challenge seeking soldier, to find amusement in even the tensest of situations. Challenges were something Logan lived for, regardless of how dangerousthey were. Sometimes, Logan's nerves could be as tough as the adamantium lacing his skeleton, which was very tough indeed.

Things were clearer however for Kurt. Thanks to his night vision granted by his mutant-neomorphic physiology, Kurt was pretty much seeing as well now as in broad daylight. He continued to scan the area for an human form that wasn't in their group. But then, something caught his eye, the shape of a human, of a teenager, hurrying away towards a slight passage at the far end of the dock. And he recognized him at a glance.

"Guys!" exclaimed Kurt, pointing at where Simon was sneaking off to, "Zhere!"

Everyone turned to look. Sure enough, Simon's figure was right there. The blond teenager was trying to quietly sneak away, but realizing that he had been spotted, he immediately made a large break for it.

Evan immediately brought up both his arms, bony spines and horns covering them like the horned bony armor of an Ankylosaur dinosaur.

"I got him!" he announced out loud, and readied to fire a spike.

"Evan, wait!" Scott suddenly signaled his objection. The last thing they wanted was for Simon to think they were trying to hurt him. Since Simon's struggle with Logan earlier with blades, he had shown he had every intention of getting away from them. But if Evan brashly rushed up and fired his spikes, which unfortunately, he was famous for in many situations, then Simon would probably think even worse of them. And if that happened, his desire to join or even listen to them would drop like a stone.

But Evan already fired his spike, the bony spear flying with immense speed, much faster than the target was moving. The spike flew into Simon's path and imbedded itself into the concrete of the ground. Evan's spikes were so pointed that they could easily pierce stone. Simon stepped right into the spike and tripped, landing facedown on the hard stone.

"Oooff!" they head a groan from Simon as he landed. He quickly climbed to his feet, rubbing his point of contact with the hard pavement. His chin.

Evan looked at the fallen mutant with a grin of triumph on his face. "The Spike Man at your service," he smiled, acting as immature as ever. Scott and the others, Rogue and Logan especially, looked annoyed at Evan's complete lack of maturity, which was the wasn't right way to act in this scene.

Suddenly, Even got an idea of how to make Simon stop running from them. He remembered him pinning Pietro Maximoff to a wall the first time he had managed to take the speed-demon down. Maybe he could do the same with this guy. After all, this guy didn't have super speed, nor instant teleportation or intangibility. This could work. "Time for a little warp me up!" Evan readied a full armful of spikes to fire and pin Simon to the wall.

"Evan, what they hell are you doing!" Scott demanded.

Evan gave no indication he had heard Scott, and gave his right arm a backhand blow motion. As his arm sailed in the circular path, his spikes propelled off him and sailed through the air towards Simon.

Simon had not noticed Evan ready his spikes for a second attack, and didn't notice anything about the skateboarding mutant until he actually saw several spine-like objects hurling towards him with the speed of a rifle bullet. Having no time to prepare to dodge, Simon ducked just as the spikes were within arm's reach. However, he suddenly felt a slight stinging on his right cheek. He rubbed the stinging spot with two fingers and looked down to see a slight streak of blood on them.

Everyone was looking on, and noticed Simon had a thin streak of blood on his right cheek under his eye. Simon's eyes were wide with surprise, but also filled with an fear and anger that few of them had seen before. He looked at his blood streaked fingers he had rubbed the cut with, and then looked back at Evan, who still had his spikes out and lining his forearms, ready to fling or swing if the need arose. And from the looks on Evans's face, he was itching for a fight. Which was the direct opposite of what Simon was feeling.

Simon wasn't amused with Evan's teenager jokes. In fact, he just seemed more anxious to get as far away as possible. But he was still wanted to show this wisecracking punk kid that he didn't take anything from anybody, especially from an arrogant smarmy teenager who was younger than him and still thought he was his superior.

Evan was looking back at the other X-Men, but turned back to Simon to see Simon's eyes filled with blue fire. The X-Men immediately braced themselves for something. Simon could porgram his energies to do all sorts of things, but they weren't sure what. The blond-haired teenager raised his left arm, which had metamorphosed into energy. Then, the arm fired abeam.

Evan, whose courage and confidence had vanished the second he had seen Simon's eyes flare with the energy, immediately ducked and rolled towards the others as Simon's beam hit its first target. A wooden crate.

Scott, Jean, and Logan all looked at the target, hoping to learn whatever they could on this kid's powers, observe and take in was the way of putting it. Once thebeam struck, the crate caught fire, bright orange and red flames started to blossom on it like flowers of hellish fury and consume the wood. Within seconds, the entire crate was incinerated and flaming, crumbling to ashes.

Once the beam was going, it didn't cease firing. Instead, it remained constant and active as a straight sharp beam of thermal energy. Evan was well out of the way, and the beam and missed him by at least three feet. One advantage the X-Men realized they had was that Simon was not that good at hitting a moving target, or even if he was trying to hit them at all.

Simon still kept his beam going, and started to move the beam like a flashlight towards the X-Men. Thebeam was still flaring, and it incinerated everything it touched. It cut through two stacks of crates, cutting them like a hot knife through butter. Then it struck the stone wall of the buildings. The stone immediately grew red hot under the immense heat, then glowing hotter and brighter. As the beam moved over the wall, the stone began to turn molten and flow down the wall, wisps of smoke billowing from the flaming melted stone.

The X-Men squatted down, as the beam moved over them. But Simon, all the while was carefully keeping the beam safely away from them. All he was trying to do was to keep them stunned and off guard for a second. He had no intention of actually hitting them with his beam.

Simon deactivated hisbeam, and his arm became flesh and blood once more.

First Rogue, then Logan, then everyone else turned back to Simon. The teenager was now running, but directly for the edge of the platform. From all appearances, it appeared that he was going to jump off the edge.

"He's going to jump!" Kitty gasped.

Rogue was wondering if he was. It sure looked like it. But if Simon was going to try to jump over the edge and make a swim for it, he was probably really desperate to get away. And once more, what good would that do him other than getting his feet wet?

Nearing the edge of the platform, Simon showed no sign at all that he was getting ready to dive off the edge, like he was hoping to run on thin air like it was solid ground. Jean considered catching him with her telekinesis again, but before she could call upon her powers when she saw Simon's powers do something she hadn't seen before yet. As Simon ran, his body, from the waist down to his feet, started to glow blue, faintly at first, then it became brighter. Within seconds, his top half was normal, but his lower extremities were now the energy energy. However, what purpose legs of energy could serve, Jean couldn't guess.

As the X-Men watched, Simon quickly squatted down lower as he ran on his energy-composed legs, and then, he blotted up again in one quick movement. At that same instant, his legs flashed, and then merged into a huge construct of energy that then exerted a tremendous force that lifted him into the air, just as he reached the edge of the dock.

"Vhoa!" gasped Kurt.

Everyone rushed to side to watch the spectacle. Simon was now flying with tremendous speed over the waters of the waterway toward the dock on the other side. None of them could guess what the speeds he was traveling at were, but it pretty damn fast. It wasn't that hard to watch Simon, for the intense glow of his energy propulsion in the dark was as visible as a red streak on a white wall.

The yellow light suddenly vanished, and the energy itself was gone suddenly. In mid-flight, Simon deactivated his powers, but the momentum of the force was still pushing him with huge force. Gravity however, was doing some forcing of its own, and his altitude began to decline and become closer to the ground as he traveled. They all waited, wondering how Simon would land.

Landing was not the best word Rogue would have chosen to describe Simon's contact with the other side. Simon hit with his feet, but then stumbled forward from the remaining force of his flight. He slammed into large metal barrel standing in his way, knocking it over in the process, but even that didn't cease his advancement. He toppled over the barrel and then landed on his back.

Logan turned to Kurt. "Kurt, take Kitty, Evan, and Rogue and teleport over there!"

Kurt looked at Logan briefly, as if trying to figure out if he was serious. Kurt was feeling uneasy about going over there with Simon and the rest of them, but he merely nodded. He went over to the other three and ported them over to where Simon was. But Simon was no longer on his back. He was up on his feet again and running.

"You think they may be able to calm this guy down?" asked Scott.

"I hope so, considerin' what he did to that," said Logan, pointing to the still glowing and smoking trail Simon's thermal beam had left on the stone walls, the molten stone still oozing down the walls like orange glue. The cool evening air was starting to cool it, for the flow was slowing and would gradually cease in time.

"But I think we can thank Porcupine for gettin' him all tense and anxious," added Logan, anger and disappointment obvious in his tone, "I'm gonna give Evan a chat when we get back."

Scott agreed with Logan. He was pretty miffed himself at Evan's total lack of maturity there. He'd told Evan twice to not throw those spikes, and yet he threw them anyway. He'd tripped Simon and also gotten him in the face as well. The look in Simon's eyes still played in Scott's memory; a look of disbelief and also fear and anger. Anger at being caught like that in the face with something that could have easily done more damage than a simple scrape, and then there was the part of feeling threatened or pushed. Xavier had said Simon could be a hot-headed teenager if he felt threatened. And that really worked into logic with what Even had done. In Scott's opinion, anyone who was almost toothpicked in several parts of his or her body at once would be rather hostile towards whoever did that. Evan really needed to learn how to keep his spikes in check unless needed.

Logan had to shake his head at the scene. He suddenly realized that this kid's powers were a lot like Ororo's. As a weather witch, Storm could create all sorts of effects of different types; flash floods, lightning strikes, fog, hurricane force winds, snow, icy air to freeze things solid, and probably a whole lot of other things he hadn't even thought of. Simon seemed to do the same sort of variety, only with energy. Logan was no physicist or chemist, but he knew energy was of different kinds, and this kid seemed to be living proof of that.

Logan turned to Jean. "Jean, can ya levitate us over there?"

Jean nodded and got ready to do it.

* * *

The location around Rogue suddenly changed from one location to another, via Kurt's teleporting. The puff of brimstone and sulfur was a clear sign that they had used that means of traveling. In the blink of an eye, one was in another spot on Earth's surface. And now, here they were where Simon had been standing only seconds before. Only now, he wasn't here. 

"So where is he?" asked Rogue, looking around the docks to see if Simon was around.

"I hope this dude is in the mood for a chat. Cause I sure ain't! He's really overreacting here." Evan grumbled. That earned him a look from Kurt, Kitty and Rogue.

"Hello!" Kitty snapped, "In case you forgot, Evan, you, like, nicked his face with one of your spikes and tripped him so he landed face first on rock hard concrete! What kind of mood do you expect him to be in?"

"Next time we try to recruit somebody, keep yer spikes UNDER yer skin, Porcupine! We're tryin' to get this guy to join us, not scare him off! Thanks to you, he probably thinks we're tryin' to kill him or something!" Rogue glared at Evan with her famous "Rogue Rage" glower.

"Hey, I was trying to slow him down!" Evan shot back.

"Maybe you vere absent the day the Professor taught uz about 'handling situations peacefully,' Evan!" Kurt ground out before turning back to look for Simon.

Evan was about to say "_sometimes actions are more effective"_ but thought better of it. Instead he merely retracted the bony spike son his arms.

Rogue shook her head in exasperation. God, could Evan be irritating. But then, she brushed that thought aside. Evan's behavior could be dealt with later and they had to focus on finding Simon.

She turned back to where Logan, Scott, and Jean were. Jean was lifting the three of them into the air with her telekinesis so they could get across. Rogue knew they couldn't wait for them, they had to go and try to catch up with Simon.

"I saw him run through zere," said Kurt, pointing towards a way behind a building, "Come one, ve can still catch him." Kurt didn't wait for the others to respond. He took off for the location. The others followed.

They were not expecting, or knew what to expect, what to find once they reached what was behind the building. They saw more crates and various machines, such as an old pickup truck and bits of old damaged boats. But Simon was nowhere to be seen, something he was doming an awful lot of tonight.

"Doesn't this guy have any other hobbies?" asked Kitty, "He's like playing hide and seek with us."

"Or he's just really good at hiding when he doesn't want to be found," said Rogue. The southern girl started to walk forward with the others close behind her. Rogue's green eyes scanned the area in front of her on the look out for any unusual color flashes or signs of movement. Kurt, Kitty, and Evan followed as well, their own eyes looking over the scenery. After a few steps, Rogue saw a flash of blue in the corner of her eye. She looked to see Simon standing behind a pile of rails, his eyes flaring blue with visible electric charges surrounding the glowing orbs. No sooner than she looked at Simon did he shoot beams from his eyes.

"Look out!" Rogue called out, scrambling to get behind the corner she had just walked around to achieve some means of cover from Simon. The others had noticed and did the same. They managed to get behind the stone wall just as the beam struck the stone, creating a brightelectrical flash-bang followed by the smell of burning smoke, leaving a big dark scorch mark on the stone wall.

"Stay away!" they head Simon yell at them.

Rogue peered out as slightly as she could to look around the corner without making herself an easy target. She was surprised to see that Simon had not taken off again like before. He was still behind the rail pile. But his eyes were still flaring.

"We're not here to fight!" she tried to calm him.

Another electrical beam from the eyes was Simon's only response.

"Not the diplomatic type," Evan remarked sarcastically. No one answered, since answering Evan only made him more talkative. And right now, talking to Evan Daniels was the last thing any of them wanted to do.

"How are we like, going to get him to simmer down?" asked Kitty.

Rogue looked back to where Simon was residing behind the pile of metal rails, the purple glow in his eyeballs still as bright as they were seconds earlier. But Simon was still in his firing mood and another beam shot out of his eyes. Rogue dodged it as before, and the beam missed the building entirely, striking a stack of empty oil drums that was sitting in its path. The stack of oil drums toppled over and crashed to the ground.

The layout of how the area was arranged suddenly filled Rogue's mind. She remembered seeing an empty space to the right of Simon's position, where there were many crates and piles of wood that could provide the right kind of coverage for them to get close to him. The only problem was that there was no door there or open passage way from them to use, only solid walls. But the Rogue remembered how that didn't stop a certain member of the X-Men.

She turned back to Kitty, who was keeping her confident look up better than Rogue had expected her to. "Kitty, up for a little phasing?" asked Rogue.

Kitty looked at her roommate with a look of confusion. "What?" she asked.

"Look, Ah saw some solid walls on the other side of this building," Rogue explained, "So maybe yah can phase yerself through 'em and sneak up on him."

"And what would I do after that?" asked Kitty.

Rogue thought fast. "Look, yah think you can sneak up on him?" Kitty nodded. "Then try to phase his feet into the ground. Then he should be in one place long enough for us to talk to 'em."

Kitty through about that for a second. It seemed like it could work. After all, if this new mutant did end up having his feet embedded in solid concrete, then he would be going nowhere real quickly. Maybe then, he would listen to reason, if he had no way of immediately escaping.

"Ve just vant to talk!" Kurt called out to Simon around the corner.

"I said STAY AWAY!" Simon roared. To make himself clear, he fired another optic blast, which this time not only burned and scorched the wall, but also made somewhat of an indention, the stone cracking and chips of it falling off the main body. The stone was starting to heat up from the attacks. If Simon kept on throwing beams like this, even without hisexplosive energy, he would eventually bring the building down. But then again, Simon was probably realizing by now that his electrical-type beams were not doing much good, so he may, any second resort to something stronger.

Once the sudden blindness she had experience from the suddenflash-bang had subsided, Rogue turned her attention back to Kitty, who was rubbing her eyes from Simon's flashes. She was hoping by now that Kitty would use her phasing powers to her advantage to sneak up on Simon. Surprise attacks were probably to best thing to use on Simon.

Without waiting for Rogue to say a word, Kitty merely nodded and walked away form the three of the others to the other end of the wall that they stood up against. Reaching the other side, Kitty phased herself through.

Once Kitty was out of sight, Rogue, Kurt and Evan turned back to face their latest mutant. Simon had moved farther out from behind the rail pile, thinking that perhaps now that he had these mysterious figures cornered, he could finally make a break for it. But as Rogue, Evan, and Kurt began to emerge from behind the building, they immediately noticed Simon charge up his energy again.Bursting from Simon's eyeballs, the burst of energized force sliced through the air, pulverizing part of the wall.

Meanwhile, Kitty had phased herself through the walls of the building as best she could. Has she had learned in several Danger Room training sessions, the best course of action to throw your opponent off guard in some circumstances was to ambush him. Now was one of those times. Well, needless to say, surprising a foe was a handy tool in any scenario. However, there were some when surprise was the only way to prevent an all out conflict.

Kitty phased her head through one side of the building. She could see that Simon was still facing Rogue, Evan, and Kurt. More to the precise description, he was looking directly at them, for she saw him fire ablast of blue energy from his eyes and was not looking at her. Kitty had always reasoned that optic energy beams were always aimed at the dead center point of the mutant's line of vision. And since the beam was nowhere near her, Simon hadn't noticed.

Kitty carefully eased her way through the wall entirely, and then knelt down close to the ground to avoid being seen. Then she did what was really strange compared to ordinary standards. Kitty phased her entire body except for her head, which stuck out of the ground. Then she carefully moved herself towards Simon's legs, which were standing really still, as Simon was really focusing on keeping the others at bay. This was the perfect opportunity.

Kitty reached up and grabbed Simon's ankles with her hands. Realizing that someone or something had grabbed his ankles, Simon looked down in astonishment. "What the!" he gasped. But before he could try to pull free or respond, Kitty extended her phasing powers to Simon, rendering him intangible. Then she gave a quick tug on Simon's feet, which then sank into the concrete of the pavement up the ankles, which she let go of. Within a matter of seconds, the job was done.

Kitty then phased herself out of the concrete and scrambled away from Simon. "I did it!' she called out to the others. Rogue, Kurt, and Evan emerged from behind the corner and carefully moved towards the two.

Simon had grabbed his left leg and was trying to pull his foot out of the ground. But he was quickly realizing that his foot was not moving a nanometer. But that sure didn't stop him from trying.

"Nice vork," said Kurt, clapping Kitty on the shoulder. Kitty beamed with pride.

The group then turned back to Simon who was still trying to pull his feet free. He wasn't having much luck. "Uh---hi, Simon," said Kitty, a little awkwardly.

Kitty's words had a sudden effect on Simon. His blond head whipped up, his hands letting go of his leg so that he could use them should the need arise.

The four teenagers gathered around Simon, each of them at different angles. They started to move towards Simon, but then stopped as they say the bright blue glow in his eyes, and the energy that now made up his fisted right hand, bathing his head, shoulders, and torso in a brilliant light.

"What do you want?" Simon demanded, his flaringcobalt blue eyes darting from one X-Man to the next, "Why have you been following me?"

Kitty was the first to speak, but she was unsure how Simon would take it. After all, Simon was probably thinking that they were out to get him and was probably paranoid. Paranoid. That was new thought, but it seemed that whenever somebody who was a mutant thought they were the only kind in the world, they probably thought others were out to get them a lot of the time. Kitty could relate, for she had felt that way the first time her powers manifested. "Look, Simon we just want to talk," she said, making her valley girl accent a little more obvious than usual.

Simon's eyes suddenly widened a little, for he realized these people, who were complete strangers to him, knew his name. "What a minute, how do you know my name?" he asked, caught off guard.

Kitty herself was caught off guard by Simon's question, for she wasn't really counting on Simon to ask them about that. Rogue, then took over, for she guessed Kitty would fail to keep going at some point, which was apparently sooner than previously expected. "That's kinda a complicated part," she tired to explain. She took another step forward.

"Back!" Simon snapped suddenly, the glow on his hand suddenly flashing brightly. Everyone froze, but no one backed away.

"Look, dude, there's no need to get excited," said Evan, smiling sheepishly.

Simon looked at Evan with a look of total disagreement on his face. "Oh, I think I have plenty of reasons to be excited!" said the blond-haired mutant, "Like this!" Simon pointed to the scratch under his eye, the one left by Evan's spike. Evan could see that the others were right about throwing stuff like that at a new recruit. Now Simon probably had every reason in the world to be skeptical of them. He really should try to listen to more peaceful approaches from now on. "And this!" Simon added, pointing to where his feet were encased in the concrete, courtesy of Kitty Pryde.

"I hope you can forgive, Evan," said Kurt, "He zometimes gets carried avay vith using his povers."

"It was an accident, Dude," said Evan, "It's cool. Nothing to worry about." Evan was smiling sheepishly now, like he did when he was caught in the act of tardiness or laziness. Rogue Kitty, and Kurt were merely looking at Evan in disproval at his lame excuse. When this was over, they were going to make absolutely sure that Logan gave Evan several extra hours in peaceful recruiting sessions. Simon himself didn't seem too satisfied with Evan's reaction either, for his hard look didn't soften.

"Since when is someone tyring to use you like pincushion an accident, I'd like to know." Simon responded, seeing right through Evan's excuses, "It looked like you threw those-those-whatever they were at me deliberately."

Evan blushed at that, something that was rare for him. So much for using teenage innocence on Simon Peter Valley.

Simon turned his attention to Kurt, then to Rogue, then to Kitty. These four younger teens didn't see all that threatening, but he had to be careful. After all, actions spoke louder than words and so far, their actions were signs of something big. And he was also wondering if they had any more tricks up their sleeves he wasn't prepared for.

"Alright, look," he said at last, "I don't know who you guys are and frankly, I don't care. But I'm not going to be any mass destruction machine or assassin if that's what you want me to be. I'm not gong to be a killing machine for anybody."

Hearing Simon say he would not be a part of a criminal organization or killing machine caught Rogue by surprise. Rogue was not sure kind of claim she was expecting from Simon, but that wasn't it. Assassin recruiting and hiring mutants to wipe out a human target was just about the last thing in the world that the X-Men would do. She then remembered Professor Xavier telling them that once Simon was reached he would be easy to talk to. Simon's last statement seemed to prove that fact undeniably.

Rogue and Kitty exchanged glances, and both raised their eyebrows at the other. They turned back to Simon. "Look," said Rogue, "Weh aren't here for that at all. We're here for somethin' totally different."

Kitty figured this was best moment for her to intervene. She figured Simon might feel more talkative once his feet were out of the pavement and used that to play her part.

"Simon," she said hesitantly.

"What?"asked Simon.

"I knew we're in kind of an awkward situation here, but all we want is a little of your time. So, if I promise to get your feet out of the ground, could you, like, promise not to use any energy blasts and listen peacefully." Even though Simon was fixed to the spot and couldn't get away, Kitty was feeling a little nervous talking to him. Kitty had already guessed that Simon was much stronger than she was physically, even if he didn't have mutant super strength, so she didn't want his volatile temperament to rage if he was free to pounce.

Simon thought for a moment. He looked at Kitty, then at the others. The skateboard dude with what Simon thought of as the weirdest hair cut he'd ever seen on a kid, the German sounding kid with the blue-black mop of hair, and finally the mysterious Goth girl with the purple lipstick and eye shadow, and not to mention the strange white streak in her auburn hair that he found unusual, yet strangely unique. And attractive.

The others stood by waiting for Simon to decide. The glow in Simon's eyes faded and vanished as did the energy form his hand had taken. However, the skeptical and penetrating look in his eyes didn't change.

"Alright," he said finally.

Kitty couldn't help but let out a sigh of relief. Rogue couldn't help herself either. Kitty walked over to Simon and placed her hands on his shoulder. Seconds later, Simon tried lifting his feet out. This time, they moved as easily through the ground as they did through air. He was then standing normally. Kitty still took a step back. She felt intimidated by Simon now. It wasn't just because of thepiercing gaze, but also by the fact that he was bigger. Kitty was realizing that she only came up to Simon's shoulder, much like she only came up to Scott's shoulder when he stood beside her. And when her blue eyes met Simon's green ones, she felt small indeed.

Simon straightened out his black leather jacket as he continued to face the four teens, his serious look never lessening. "Okay, I did what you asked. Now tell me what's going on." He sounded serious still, which they guessed was a normal voice tone for him. However, his voice held no anger anymore at least. They took that as a good sign.

"Vell, meinen Fruend," said Kurt, his German accent really heavy now, "It's kind of complicated."

Simon then realized Kurt's accent. "Are you from---Germany?" he asked, his brow furrowed as he turned his attention from Kitty to Kurt.

Kurt seemed a little surprised that Simon would caught his accent so soon. "Ja. And that's not all that's different about me." At that, Kurt turned off his holowatch, allowing Simon to see his true, blue-furred form.

The next sound everyone could hear, or at least thought they heard, was Simon's jaw hitting the ground at Kurt's appearance. His eyes were practically bulging out of his head. "What in the—who----what are you?" he asked in astonishment.

Kurt raised up his three-fingered hands at Simon in an attempt to show him he was nothing to be terrified about. "Don't freak. I'm a harmless fuzzy blue elf. See?" he said as Simon took in Kurt's bizarre appearance, which looked to him like a combination of a fuzzy elf and a hornless blue devil. "We're different like you," said Kurt, "But some of use look different as well."

Several seconds passed before Simon got his vocal cords working again. He calmed down amazingly fast. As far as Rogue could tell, Simon Valley was not an easy person to surprise. And even when he was, he recovered himself with exceptional speed. "Yeah, I can see that," said Simon in a more controlled and calm voice, "But what exactly do you mean by different?"

Rogue was about to respond when they heard the sudden movement of feet pounding the ground with the type of physical force that could only be produced by running. "Hello," she heard Jean's voice call out. Seconds later, Jean, Scott, and Logan emerged from behind the building that the other four had used as protection against Simon's electric optic beams.

Scott and Logan immediately saw that the others surrounded Simon, but their caution instincts kicked in. Or more precisely, their combat instincts. As did Simon's. Once their eyes met, Logan raised both of his powerful hands, both sets of claws out and ready to slash and slice. Scott reacted in a similar way, his hand flying up to his ruby-quartz glasses, the red glow of his optic blasts brightening, ready to lower his shades and fire. Simon had raised his fist, which was glowing blue with lightning again.

"No, wait!" Rogue suddenly shouted, stepping up and holding out her arms to the young leader and the big Canadian warrior with the other extending towards Simon.

"It's okay guys," Kitty stepped in, "He knows we're not his enemies."

Logan and Scott still held their stances, as did Simon. "Guys, he's fahn. Really," Rogue assured them in her southern voice. Both of the oldest X-Men present shifted their gazes over to Rogue.

Simon felt a hand on his shoulder. He turned to see who it was and saw that it was Kurt. "It'z okay," the fuzzy elf told the electrical-eyed teenager, "They're vith uz."

Simon, Scott, and Logan looked back at each other, judging who would act first. It turned out to be Simon. Theglow on his hand and eyes faded. Scott brought his hand down from his glasses and Logan retracted his claws. All three mutants then lowered their arms, trying to relax as best they could.

Scott and Simon were currently exchanging glances. Logan, on the other hand, was only carefully watching the two younger boys. Scott looked at Simon. Simon looked at Scott. The others could suddenly see that their last impression of Simon being taller than Scott was not accurate. Simon was not slightly taller than Scott. He was the exact same height as the field leader. So now, Scott Summers and Simon Valley were looking at each other at eye level.

Scott began his first full sentence to Simon carefully, "Hi, Simon. I hope you can understand we're not here to fight."

"Who are you people?" asked Simon evenly in a neutral tone, for he still didn't know the names of these people who had powers not unlike his.

"My name's Scott. This is Jean," he motioned to Jean, who was wearing her best calming smile that seemed to work on some people. "This is Logan," motioning to the big blurry man with the look of a solider who had seen more than his fair share of battles.

"You've met Evan, Kurt, Rogue, and Kitty," Scott pointed out each of them as he said their names as Simon followed each of them to remember who was who.

"Why have you been following me?" asked Simon, his voice becoming suspicious now.

"We were hoping that we could offer you something," said Jean, "Something that we think could be of help to you."

Simon turned to Jean. "What do you mean?"

"Well, Simon," said Jean, "I'm sure you've seen that we have abilities like yours."

Simon nodded. He remembered the tricks he had seen them perform. Tricks that, according to the laws of physics and science as far as he was concerned, were impossible.

"We all go to a school where we have leaner to control our gifts. It's a place where you could learn to control yours," Jean explained.

The look on Simon's face suddenly changed so dramatically that it caught everyone off-guard. Simon now looked like he had been casually asked to shoot himself in the foot with a shotgun as if it was as casual as tying his shoelace. Then, his expression turned bitter. "Oh no. You didn't just call me 'gifted,' did you?" he demanded hotly, his voice rising a bit.

"I did," said Jean, looking confused by his sudden mood change.

"Pretty strange word for 'curse' you people have," said Simon, his voice getting hotter.

"But, it isn't a curse," said Kitty, "We've all learned to use our powers the right way."

"And what exactly is the _right_ way?" asked Simon, still sounding as if he was not believing what he was hearing.

"Well, that's a rather complicated issue," said Scott, taking his role of leader again, "But we've learned to accept our powers and what we are at this school. You can too."

Simon's eyes widened in outraged surprise, if that's what you could call it. "Accept it? But I want to be ordinary, not some freakish, energy-blasting monster!" he sounded on the verge of shouting.

Everyone was shocked. All through their time, they had heard of mutants call themselves many things. Cursed. Unfortunate. Freaks. Weirdoes. But this was the first time that they had heard a mutant call himself a "monster." And the anger and bitterness the word was spoken with got their attention too.

Logan started growling fiercely. "Careful with your language kid!" he warned, narrowing his eyes at Simon menacingly and pointing a finger, "These powers of ours are gifts."

Simon looked back at Logan with every bit of ferocity in his eyes as Logan had in his. He slapped Logan's hand away, and pointed his own finger at Logan. "Are you saying that I'm gifted in that I can demolish an entire building just by reaching out to it with my hand? Well, how, may I ask, is _that_ a gift?" the blond teenager demanded. Logan growled dangerously.

Everyone had heard and seen the entire exchange. It was clear that Simon didn't see his powers as a gift. It was no surprise. All the X-Men had thought of their powers as curses before. But they had rarely seen a mutant who hated his powers as much as this. Not even Rogue had shown such scorn of her no-touch power. But they couldn't guess why his anger was so deep. They all came to the same conclusion right away. This guy needed to come to institute. If he didn't, well, that was not worth picturing.

"Look, Simon," Jean cut in again, hoping to ease the hostility between Logan and Simon before they went slash and slice on one another again, which seemed to be only a mere spark away, "What would you say if we offered you a chance to really learn what you are and where to fit in?"

Simon diverted his attention from Logan and looked Jean right in the eyes. He was always suspicious of offers like that, for he had learned from experience that they came with price. "I'd say 'what's in it for you?'" he replied, sounding suspicious, bringing his hand to his chin like he was considering what they were offering.

Professor Xavier had been right. Simon didn't trust anyone immediately.

Jean was silent at Simon's response, but showed no real surprise. "Simon, this isn't about us, this is about you. We were all like you once, unsure of who we were, what we were supposed to do. Just like you, we all discovered one day that we had powers, and we hated it as well. But then we found help at this school we go to and got what we needed. We got help, guidance, discipline, etc. We'd like to offer you the same thing."

Simon looked at the seven faces around him. He could see that they were caught off guard by his reaction. He had overreacted again, as was a habit of his. He was showing these people an aggressive person, when he was not really one at heart. He had made a bad first impression. He let out a big sigh and ran a hand through his blond hair.

"I'm ---sorry," he apologized, in a much softer tone of voice, "I just get worked up about this a lot of the time."

"Well, we can help you with that, the professor can," said Scott, "We were all like you once. But we then met Professor Xavier and he helped us through it."

Simon's ears perked at the mention of the new name. "Who's Professor Xavier?" he asked.

"Professor Xavier is the man who first told us about our powers, what they were, and how to control them," said Jean whole-heartedly, "It took us some time to get a hang of it, but we all did eventually. He can do the same for you too."

Simon looked uncertain. "But, Jean you saw how dangerous my powers are. What if I end losing control of them and destroy this school with even meaning to?" he asked, showing genuine concern, his voice now quieter.

"It's really not that big a hassle," said Scott, "Why don't you come with us and meet the professor? He can give you a better description of the institute. Why do you say?"

Simon looked at the seven faces around him again, each of them displaying honesty and genuine truth. "All right."

* * *

And that's the end of this chapter. Stay turned to find out what happens next. And remember, I thirst for reviews. The more reviews I get, the faster I update! Reviews make me go, go, go! 


	9. Meeting Professor Xavier

**Chapter 8**

**Meeting Professor Xavier**

Something was bothering Mystique at the moment, and it wasn't just simple wonder or frustration at how spineless her team of Brotherhood mutants had become. Well, that was bothering her, more or less. She was really concerned more on what uncertain future that could or could not come to pass that she had heard of from Destiny.

It was death her friend's visions had spoken of, and frankly, there was nothing else that seemed important about it. All except for whom the visions were about. They were about Rogue. That was Mystique's chief concern at the moment. But the really big part that left Mystique hanging like she absolutely hated was the fact that Destiny's visions of Rogue were uncertain.

But yet, these visions were about Rogue only half of the time. There had been another. Another person who was likely in the danger of suffering the same thing. But there was another "another" that made Mystique's questions flow. Was he another human? Another mutant? Another X-Man? Another something else that she hadn't even thought of? The thinking was making Mystique's brain hurt.

Mystique got up off her bed where she had been sitting for the past hour ever since Destiny had called her. He had needed time to think things through, and was practically drained from thinking. She had to move and work her motor neurons rather than her thinking neurons.

Leaving her bedroom, Mystique walked down the rather tattered up hallway, courtesy of sloppy housekeeping of her spineless Brotherhood boys. Mystique really needed to do something to get her once-tough and formidable team of mutants into something Magneto could really use in case of the need. She and Magneto had been keeping in fairly close contact over the past several weeks, but it was mainly for keeping him up to date with her masquerading as a student at Bayville High so she could keep tags on the X-Men. So far her persona of the British, gothic Risty Wilde was working out fine. And thanks to her "upgrades" from the residual mutant-enhancing energy from the enhancer on Asteroid M, no telepath or psychic could detect her thoughts, and Wolverine's keen sense of smell would not sense her either.

Basically thinking of nothing else other than what she had to do in order to restore good discipline in her boarding house and her concern of Destiny's call earlier that night, Mystique looked outdoors through the window to see how Agatha was doing with Wanda. Sure enough, there on the back lawn of the boarding house, she saw the tall, narrow figure of a woman who had seen many years of existence against what appeared to be a wall of blue-green fire. And through the flames, just visible in the fierce blue-green light, was what she recognized as Wanda's head, the short dark black hair with scarlet red highlighting and massive earrings that were molded in a gothic symbol shape.

Mystique was no true expert in things Agatha Harkness knew in regards to witchcraft and the like, but from her sharpened power of observation she could see Wanda was showing progress in her training. Her first trial against Xavier's X-Men had proven successful, and at that rate, she would be invaluable to the Brotherhood and Magneto. As long as she didn't know the true and precise motives Mystique had in mind.

She heard someone arguing in the living room, and the person who was speaking had a high-pitched voice and was talking so quickly that one could barely isolate the words, or even the syllables of his sentences. And he sounded restless.

It was all Mystique could do not to sigh in exasperation. She walked to the doorway leading into the living room. And sure enough, the white-haired, loud-mouthed Pietro Maximoff was speaking out his thoughts, which was probably the last thing in the world any person in their right mind would want to hear.

"I'm telling you guys," said the speed demon in a fearful tone, "this is a bad idea. Wanda is too dangerous to have around. Mystique was out of her mind to bring her here!"

Lance Alvers was lying on the couch and noticed that the Brotherhood's blue-skinned den mother had entered, a fierce irritated scowl slashed into her bright blue face. A smug look crossed over Lance's face. "Hi there, Mystique," said Lance, shifting his eyes to the blue-skinned shape-shifter.

Pietro gasped and swung around with the speed only he could achieve to find a ticked off Mystique glaring at him. "You doubt my judgment and resources, Mr. Maximoff?" she hissed, narrowing her golden eyes dangerously, "I'm sure you've learned I don't enjoy being insulted behind my back."

"Look, I---You must've misheard me," Pietro stuttered, hoping his lame excuses would save him from whatever response Mystique was thinking of dishing out. Lance, along with Fred J. Dukes and Todd Tolansky, started snickering at Pietro's predicament.

"Your incompetence and arrogance are really starting get on my nerves," said Mystique, "You'd better learn fix that…and soon."

Pietro didn't say anything. Or wouldn't. Or couldn't.

"So, how's our latest member?" asked Lance, "How's her magic coming round?"

"She's learning quickly," Mystique responded, "unlike some people." Lance didn't rise to the bait. He really didn't take much from anybody to really care. Besides, he was tough. But what did he have to compare to the Scarlet Witch? Nothing. HeX powers would win that contest over geological manipulation any day of the week.

"So, since Pietro's sis has helped us out, Yo, when do we get to kick some X-Man coin?" asked Toad, sitting in his frog-like sitting position on the floor, which made him look utterly ridiculous in anyone's opinion.

"Yeah, I wanna show those, goody X-geeks some Blob bouncin' brusin' bashing!' Fred immediately stepped in, raising a huge fist in the air, "You're lettin' a girl do a man's job!"

Lance thought it a little rich that Fred would still think of himself as a man when he'd been shown how unmanly his lack of intelligence made him, and how his over confidence in his superhuman strength and his massive, obese, indestructible, fat-layered body made him even less of a man, at least to some. And if anything could be used as solid evidence that girls could overcome him, it was the fact that Rogue, Shadowcat, and Jean Grey had all single-handedly gotten the best of him, which sealed the evidence down as securely as was possible.

Mystique ignored Fred's remark, for she immediately concluded that his mind wouldn't be able to warp around the reasons and logic she was more than able to make. "I would say that since she's come around our odds have considerably improved," said the metamorph, "But we still shouldn't take any chances. Xavier may be a fool, but he isn't stupid either. He's always formulating new plans for his little X-Men, new training programs, new upgrades for his mansion and security system, new defense weaponry."

"But can't you use that data you got from his big computer?" asked Lance, "I mean, didn't you say yourself you downloaded all his files? If that's the case, why don't we just use that against them?"

"My gathered information will certainly be invaluable," answered Mystique, "But Xavier is always careful and watchful. We need to be sure he doesn't do anything dramatic anytime soon."

"I don't know, yo. If you ask me, this whole spy, download stuff is too deep," said Toad, "This'z an accident waiting to happen."

"On the contrary," said Mystique, "Magneto and I are carefully formulating a plan to bring down the X-Men once and for all. And this one is sure not to fail."

She smiled in a ruthless sort of way when she saw the four boys' ears perk at the mention of a master plan. She hadn't told them anything about something like that. But then again, most of them were not surprised at it. For one thing, Mystique was a devious, cunning, and secretive woman to the core. All the assuming of false identities and infiltration skills at even the most heavily guarded areas. But the thing that was most unnerving was that none of them really knew how deep her secretive manipulation of people went. Lying to Wanda and making them play along was the biggest they'd seen so far, but it would hardly be a surprise if she was capable of deeper, darker deeds of cloak and dagger.

"Are you telling me that getting Wanda here was part of that?" asked Pietro, still unnerved by the fact that his twin sister was here with him, when she hated him as much as their magnetic manipulating father, Magneto.

"How comprehensive you are," said Mystique, the sarcasm in her voice plain, "Yes, that was part of it. But we're still only in the planning stages. Once we're at the true core of it, we'll start to make some real progress in taking down those arrogant teenage X-Men."

"Including Wanda is a bad idea!" Pietro insisted, "She's a time bomb waiting to go off in a----,"

"Doubt my plans and judgment again, Quicksilver," interrupted Mystique, "And I'll really give you something to worry about." Pietro would have to have been blind and deaf to miss the threat in her voice and eyes. The speed demon immediately shut himself up.

"So, what should we know about this?" asked Lance, "I mean, are we part of this or not?"

"You will be, more or less," Mystique replied, "But you know all you need to know for now. So in the meantime, I advise you all to pull your sorry rears into gear so you can do it when I say so."

"But what is this plan anyway?" asked Fred, "I mean, shouldn't we know its steps if we're gonna play along?"

"That is for me to know right now," answered Mystique, "and for you to find out later on." She narrowed her golden eyes at Blob, who knew that look to be one that said 'put a lid on it or you'll be sorry if you carry on.'

Mystique turned and left the living room, still exasperated that Pietro still didn't trust her judgment when he should. Hell, it both her judgment and Magneto's. Wasn't anyone in her pitiful Brotherhood really trusting her these days?

Mystique walked back up to her room, her frustration growing with each and every step. Her frustration of Pietro's lack of backbone, frustration of how weak her mutants had become, and of course, her frustration of Destiny's vision still lurking in her mind. Mystique had gotten Destiny's call over two hours ago and her anxiety was not diminishing at all. If anything, it was escalating.

She had said Rogue was in the danger of losing her life. But how was she? Thousands of possibilities had been through her mind. Death at the hands of terrorists? A fatal mutant attack during a battle? Something else altogether? Mystique brought up her hand to her temple. She was getting a serious case of brain pain again, for the second time that night. She wouldn't be surprised if she got it a third time today.

Mystique simply walked into her bedroom and closed the door behind her. She was feeling totally distracted from her important issues. She really needed to do something to get her mind of Destiny's vision about her daughter. And also off that unnamed boy she had mentioned, who's identity was completely a mystery.

Mystique looked at a small computer that was sitting in the corner of her room on a desk. Beside the computer was a golden computer data CD, which she immediately recognized as the CD containing the files she had had Arcade from Bayville High download for her.

She immediately wondered what exactly she should do with it. Perhaps she should take a closer look at it. After all, she had been researching Xavier's files, which was the reason she found his psychological journal files from his sessions with Wanda at the asylum where Magneto had placed her so long ago. But she had looked through the files only once, and once was never enough times to do anything thoroughly enough, at least to Mystique herself.

The shape-shifter sat down on the chair at her desk and carefully placed the disk into the disk drive. She waited patiently for the screen to show the main desktop menu display, watching the hourglass icon on the LCD monitor that indicated the user to wait patiently for the machine to do its thing. For a minute, the icon remained active. Mystique found herself tapping her blue fingers on her deck, impatiently waiting for the program to begin.

Finally the hourglass icon vanished and Mystique saw the main men of Cerebro's files appear before her. She quickly looked at the list of options the menu offered. Unsurprisingly, the main menu was big one, organized from the most general categories, such as mansion technology layout and X-Men/New Mutant listings, trailing down to the most specific of sections, like detailed blue prints of the X-Men Blackbird and X-Van. It had taken Mystique several hours just to skim through the data. Going through it carefully would take even longer.

The phone on Mystique's desk rang.

She averted her attention to the phone quickly, wondering who could be calling at this time of night. It was currently ten'o'clock and she wasn't expecting someone to call. A part of her suddenly hoped that it was Destiny calling again with more information about her visions. Maybe even giving her the reason for Rogue's predicament or the identity of the blond-haired teenager whom she had no name to connect with. But just as quickly, Mystique pushed that thought aside. Chances were that was not the case. Besides, she had learned the hard way many times in the past that getting her hopes up only to have them dashed made life a lot more difficult than it needed to be.

The phone rang again.

Mystique picked up the phone and answered. "Hello," she said carefully, for she didn't know who was on the other end.

"Mystique," came a deep, dark-sounding, eerily dangerous man's voice over the line that she recognized at once.

"Magneto," she replied.

"Correct," said Magneto over the phone, "I assume everything is under control at the moment?"

"Yes," Mystique told him, "Wanda's training with Agatha is going remarkably well. Her last encounter with the X-Men has proven that she will be a valuable asset to us."

"Indeed," said the Master of Magnetism, "As long as we keep her under control, we can use her powers to our advantage."

Mystique heard the confidence in Magneto's voice. He sure sounded sure of himself. "I'm a little concerned about keeping Wanda from discovering the truth," she said, "Her desire for revenge on you is more extreme than I previously predicted. If she discovers the truth, I'm guessing it will not be something she will take lightly."

"She hasn't discovered it, has she?" asked Magneto, sounding the slightest bit uneasy.

"Not yet," explained Mystique, "But I feel that we cannot keep this a secret from her for too much longer. She's bound to find out sooner or later. Her faith in me currently is almost unquestionable since I 'promised' to give her revenge, but that faith could dwindle with time if I keep her from that promise of vengeance fro too long. It could ultimately end with her discovering we've been manipulating her the entire time."

Magneto was silent for a few moments, like he was considering what to say or how to respond. But when he spoke again, it was on an entirely different subject.

"By the way," Magneto continued, "How are your studies of the files you downloaded from Xavier's Cerebro mainframe computer system?"

"I've only scratched the surface of them," said Mystique, "The amount of information he had on that machine was tremendous. I need more time, which I am guessing we do not have much of."

There was more silence on the phone. "You are correct in that we are short on time, but no matter," said Magneto, "Right now we have more important things to deal with. Besides, the time to strike is not now. We have to take care of other matters first."

Mystique was somewhat surprised at how easy Magneto was going. The Master of Magnetism was infamous for his short temper, which he ruthlessly enforced with his awesome magnetic powers. "Rule through fear" was Magneto's philosophy of leading his team of mutant warriors. But it was also Mystique's as well, even if it wasn't as powerfully enforced as Magneto's was.

Before Mystique could ask a question of make a statement, Magneto spoke up again. "Come and meet me here in my base. There are some things that we must discuss and some people that you must meet."

"I'm on my way."

With that, Magneto hung up the phone.

Mystique placed the phone back on its stand. She then turned back to her computer and shut off the system. Once that was done, she got up and walked over to her door, which she then locked. All the Brotherhood knew not to barge into her room, but it never hurt to make certain that they didn't.

Mystique walked over to her window. Outside, she saw the big bright silver moon shining in the dark starry sky over Bayville, the trees and buildings casting long shadows. The night was vast, perfect for her to travel through without notice.

The shape-shifter opened the shutters, feeling a breeze of cool night air wash over her slim physique, which apparently was not that covered by clothing. She then stood back and stopped. Then she began to shrink. Her legs and arms grew shorter, her bright red hair and brilliant blue skin becoming a dark ink black, losing their smooth textures in the process and becoming feathery. Her feet remolded into what looked like claws, and her hands and fingers melted into her wrists as her face grew hard and pointed. Within a matter of seconds, Mystique had turned into a large black raven.

Mystique, in her bird form, flapped her wings and took to the air. Hovering off the floor, she glided through the open window and flew out into the night.

* * *

The ride back to the Valley mansion was accomplished in silence. Logan, Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Evan, and Rogue were driving onward along the streets and highways of Moonriver Falls towards Simon's house, Simon himself among them. And while the group had exchanged words and sentences here and there, Simon was silent most of the time. Being around him was giving all of them a very good opportunity to look into his face and green eyes, which, as everyone knew, was a window to the soul. 

From most of the trip, Simon had been calm and straightforward, not saying too much, really not speaking unless spoken to. His face kept the same expression the whole time, which was kind of a combination of Scott and Logan's normal expressions: calmness, seriousness, and a no nonsense demeanor that said _don't-think-I'm-an-idiot-because-I'm-not_. As the others carefully observed him, they noticed he didn't smile the entire time, but he never frowned or scowled either, no signs of hostility or anger surfacing.

In addition, Scott and Logan were carefully looking into his eyes occasionally to see if they could make any assumptions. Scott had long realized that Simon was not like Duncan Matthews at all, as he had wondered about earlier. True the two shared a couple of similarities, blond hair and green eyes, but there, the resemblance ended. For one thing, there was the difference in facial structure and hairstyle. Simon had a narrower leaner face that Duncan, and a much, much fairer complexion, and unlike Duncan Matthews, who had slightly long and slightly brushed hair, Simon kept his hair shorter, severely styled, and neatly brushed. But the major differences that could be seen, or sensed, were in aura. Duncan Matthews always had an arrogant, flirting, over-confident, sly air to him, except when he was pissed off for some reason, and when he looked at another person, his eyes were always saying that Duncan was superior in more ways than one, regarding that person as weak and insignificant and always would be. But whenever Scott looked at Simon's eyes there was not the slightest hint of arrogance or overconfidence or extreme pride in what he was and what he could do, just an almost emotionless stare that portrayed a strong sense of serious self-containment. It was merely blank, neither judging a person nor comparing him or her to Simon himself, which probably meant that Simon didn't try to make those around him feel inferior just to boost his own self-esteem. Scott was not sure how to feel about that quality, but it was a big relief that this new mutant was not a mutant-version of his long-time football-playing rival. If anything, Simon had the same sort of look that Rogue had given the X-Men during the first days she had known them while serving the enemy side. But if he had any true hostility or anger towards the X-Men, he was doing a damn good job of hiding it.

Logan however was seeing Simon from his own personal point of view. What Logan remembered most about their first meeting with Simon back at the docks was when the kid had faced up to him with a fierce glare that was almost as intense as Logan's and hardly flinched when Logan gave his. Logan had seen a fair number of teens in his day, but he had rarely seen the type of anger that Simon had shown in the eyes of someone so young. Anger, bitterness, and frustration were the best emotion combination he could think of to describe the look in Simon during that moment. It was what Logan took as a sign that the blond teenager had experienced some pretty bad things, which evidently still affected him to a high degree.

Logan was no psychiatrist at all, but he remembered looks similar to that from many many years ago during World War II. As a solider in that time, Logan had rescued many people from the Nazi concentration camps in Poland. The looks the prisoners had were ones he didn't think he would ever forget. They were looks of seeing total inhumanity done, terror and destruction of innocent people just because they had blood considered to be dirty compared to blood of Hitler's Aryan race. Looks that displayed innocence cut away, normal emotion ripped out, and so much more.

Of course, far from being a victim of Nazi persecution, Simon was nowhere near looking like those people. His expression held a number of emotions, but innocence was not included. Most teens had innocence of some degree, but Simon Valley seemed to have a level that was even lower than most. It made Logan wonder just how it came to be that way. Logan had been through a lot that had robbed him of his innocence; one of those things was going through the arduous process that had bonded the adamantium alloy molecules to his bone cells, a process so painful and dangerous that only his uncanny healing ability had kept him alive. He was thinking of what Simon could have been through to make him lose his, that is, if he had lost it. There was also the chance that innocence was merely buried deep under that emotionless mask he wore. But there was still no way of knowing.

But currently, Logan was thinking more about other things rather that trying to make a hypothesis or what not about Simon's attitude and feelings. Logan himself was not one to really think over things. He was more of a fighter than a thinker, which was probably the most obvious feature of his personality other than his gruff-tough-and-hard-to-bluff personality. But seeing people in action in battle and seeing what they could and could not do was one of his secret talents.

Really strong stamina and fighting spirit was clearly evident in Simon, mostly from his strong attacks on them. However, it was also more than obvious that he really needed training to use his powers. The kid had missed his targets almost every time he had fired an energy beam of whatever type, he was too easily caught off guard by surprises, such as when Kurt had ported near him, and finally there was the use of the bladed weapons that they had discovered he could form out of himself. That last item on the list was something Logan realized he would have to teach Simon possibly. No one else at the institute had weapons like that in their arsenal of mutant powers other than Wolverine himself. But he knew how to use them, and skillfully. If Simon agreed to join the X-Men, Logan would be going through many hours of training with him so that he could use his weapon-molded arms and legs effectively. If he didn't, there was no point in Simon using that ability at all. Needless to say, there was a really need for many things in Simon's case, and training was only one of them.

But there was also the guidance of how to deal with inner thoughts and conflicts. Logan was suddenly curious as to what kind Simon had, but he merely put that thought aside. He didn't have to worry about it. Professor Xavier on the other hand, would have to. But at least, Logan himself wouldn't have to be guiding in that sense.

What Simon really wanted to do was to ask all the questions he had at the moment on this. There were so many things that he wanted to know. He wanted to know how they found him, how they knew his name, how they did those feats he had seen them do, how they knew what was the cause of his abilities, and so much more. But he said nothing, for he wasn't sure how or where to begin asking. And besides, he felt this was the wrong place and wrong time to ask, but he was impatient.

The frustration was the hardest part to live with. He felt helpless to deal with it because he knew of no way to deal with it. He had figured that he would have to wait until he met this "Professor X" who they said was their headmaster and teacher, as well as leader and advisor in so many things. It almost sounded as if the worshiped this Professor X. If he had helped them out as much as they said, Simon wouldn't have been surprised.

Try as he might, he just couldn't relax his muscles as much as he wanted to. Adrenaline and stimulating energy were still filling his muscles and nerves with what felt like enough "up" to recharge every flashlight battery in the state. So sitting still was the only thing he could do other than try to run it off, which was obviously out of the question.

Over and over during the trip, Simon found his gaze drifting over to the gothic girl who Scott had introduced as Rogue, who hardly spoke during the trip, much like he did. Simon wasn't quite sure how she got that name. He wasn't sure if it was simply a name given out for metaphorical reasons, a nickname due to loner-like activities, or a word that represented something he didn't know about yet. All the same, he thought it an interesting name. Not the type of name he'd expect for a guy to possess, but with a girl, it had a rather nice touch when combined with a feminine possessor.

In addition, Simon couldn't help but be intrigued by her. Even with her deep purple eye shadow and lipstick, she was quite attractive. Her shoulder-length auburn hair had seemed silky, and the white streak in it provided an extra touch. Her face was graceful, her neck long, and her figure shapely. And also, those sea green eyes Simon had looked into back when they first met, those were that really got his attention. Those eyes were deeper than anything he had seen in a person, as if they held a world of passion, and a world of hurt in some way. Almost like something lurked behind them, waiting for the chance to be let out. And maybe that was why Simon found her an interesting person. Her attractiveness was definitely one reason, but there was something more. But he couldn't figure out what it was.

* * *

Professor Xavier was currently working on laying out the basics of life at his institute, and so far, it was going fairly smoothly. Questions of all sorts came up as he discussed it with Nicholas and Hillary Valley on this offer of mutant training and life in the New York city of Bayville. Answering them was not original at all, but Xavier had to be careful on how he played this out. He always had to be certain to let the family of his recruits know what they wished to know without revealing too much of what secret aspects of the state-of-the-art technological features his seemingly normal mansion had. But he also was explaining certain aspects of his training mutants, which was other than their danger room training sessions and combat workouts. 

"I also help mutants with their personal troubles," said the professor, "As well as helping them gain control of their powers."

"Why is that?" asked Hillary Valley, who was taking a specific interest in the psychological fields that Xavier spoke of, her career as a psychiatrist in full throttle. It wasn't just out of interest and curiosity, but also in that fact that she had tried many times before to help Simon with his inner conflicts. Perhaps Charles Xavier had a different approach to that sort of problem. And if he had this mental powers that he mentioned once in a while over the course of his explanations, that would provide an invaluable means indeed.

"Well, to put it as simply as I can," said Xavier, "Some of my students have had traumatic experiences at some time in their lives, some more than once and some more seriously than others. In fact, it is often such a traumatic experience that causes one's powers to manifest in the first place."

"What do you mean 'when it first manifests?'" asked Nicholas, who seemed to find that once particular piece of information intriguing.

"Perhaps I can answer that, Mr. Valley," said Xavier, "Did Simon ever give specific details of when if powers first appeared?"

Nicholas seemed a little confused by that question, for he hadn't expected Xavier to answer a question with a question. Nonetheless, he answered it, for he wanted all the information he could on this subject. "Well, it was over five years ago," he explained, "On a hiking trip down in the mountains of Oregon. He was simply hiking in the mountains on his one while Hillary and I were staying at our campsite. He said that at some point during his walk, he came across a young girl who was being harassed by some thugs. When he tired to tell them to let her go and they refused, he became angry and then, he simply reached out with his hands to give them a simple pointing to, and the next thing that happened, according to what he said, was that purple beams shot form his hands and struck the two thugs down."

"I see," said Xavier, "So he was angry at the time when those purple 'beams' as you said, were first discovered?"

"That's what he told us," said Hillary, "Other than the 'purple beams' the one thing he remembers most about that one moment is that he was feeling very angry, perhaps even furious."

Memories of the stories of powers first emerging in mutants were coming back to Xavier's thoughts as he listened to Nicholas Valley. Stories like that were different from each other in so many ways, but yet he never forgot the basic elements of powers. This had started four years ago, which meant Simon was fourteen years of age at the time, around the time of puberty, which was the most common time for powers to emerge for mutants. As the mutant's biology and physiology began the process of entering the teenage years that would lead up to adulthood in a decade's time, the dormant X-Gene in their system, would usually come out of its dormant state, causing its template to spread its effects and traits across the mutant's system.

And also, there was the part of anger as Simon's folks had described it as. Strong emotion, being fear, or anger, or total surprise, was another major trigger of powers in the developing mutant. This was like a lot of cases he'd seen and helped out with. Xavier was well aware of the circumstances that brought out the powers in young mutants, and this encounter with the thugs and girl had trigger anger and frustration, which were commonly known as emotional triggers for young mutants.

"I assume Simon was not happy after this experience," said Ororo.

Hillary shook her head. "No he wasn't in fact, he was completely overwhelmed," she explained, "He was furious that this strange thing had happened to him, and at the same time he was scared as well because he was afraid of harming others or destroying things. But he was most afraid of people finding out about him."

Xavier nodded. "Well, I can understand that," he said.

Just then, they heard the front door open, followed by the sound of footsteps on the carpeted floors of the mansion. Ororo and the two Valleys looked over the entrance of the living room as Xavier swerved his wheelchair around to face the visitors. A few seconds later, Scott, Jean and Logan came into the room, and they were accompanied by a tall blond boy whom Xavier instantly recognized as Simon from the data gathered by Cerebro. Kitty, Kurt, Rogue, and Evan came in last, and were close behind so that they were not left in the dust.

"Simon," Nicholas Valley greeted his son, "You're back from your walk."

For the first time since the X-Men had seen him, Simon smiled slightly at his father, probably as a greeting. "Yeah, Dad," he answered, "I meet some people while I was out." He motioned to the seven X-Men near him. Kitty smiled her little angel smile that she was famous for, while most of the others, such as Scott and Rogue turned up a corner of their mouths in response. Logan, ever the strong silent type, merely stood there and did nothing other than breath.

"I hope everything went all right," said Hillary.

Simon merely shrugged, "Nothing big," in a tone that suggested otherwise.

Hillary gave Simon a look that said 'you know something you're not telling.' "How did you get that scratch under your eye?" she asked, motioning to the same spot on her own face.

Simon brought his eyes up to look at his mother, but he remained expressionless as ever. Rogue had been trying for the past half hour to see if there was any sort of emotion playing in that face of his, but she had seen no hint of emotion at all as of yet. The exceptions were when they had first met Simon back at the docks for the first time, when he had gone from hostile to suspicious to angry to confused and finally to willing to listen to Xavier and what he had to offer at his institute. If was like Simon had spent years practicing to keep his face a total blank mask. Trying to read his emotions merely by looking at his face was like trying to read Japanese when the only language you could read was English.

"Just a slight accident, nothing more," Simon responded in his controlled, contained voice.

Ororo and Xavier had also noticed the slight scratch under Simon's eye, but they made no indication that they did. However, Xavier did notice Simon slightly shift his gaze toward Evan and wondered what it could possibly mean. He had a fair guess as to why, but he still wasn't entirely certain. He reached out to Logan with his telepathy, '_Logan, does that mark have something to do with Evan?_'

Logan realized that Xavier was speaking to him via his mind powers, and responded by merely thinking his response. That was one of the advantages with being a telepath; you could speak out to a person in an entire room full of people without them hearing you. It would save you the trouble of waiting for that person to be free enough to listen in private spot. _'The porcupine went cowboy on us and did some wild shootin' with his arrows_,' Logan thought back to Xavier, '_ol Simon here was caught up in it_.'

That was all Xavier needed to hear. He made a mental note to give Evan a few pointers of that later on. But he had to put that aside for now. He had bigger things to deal with. Now came the biggest part yet. Making the offer of life at the institute to Simon himself.

Xavier looked at Simon and gave him a warm smile, the one he always used when trying to make a good impression on a potential new recruit. "Hello there, Simon," he greeted the boy, "It's nice to finally meet you."

Simon averted his gaze to Xavier. "You must be Mr. Xavier," he said.

Xavier nodded. "Yes, I am. And this," he motioned over to Storm, "is Ororo Munroe, who is an instructor at my institute. I take my students have told you about me."

Simon nodded as well, to signal his acknowledgement after he gave a greeting nod to Ororo. "They told me a lot about you on our way back here," he told the professor.

"Well, I hope it was nothing too much. Sometimes my students can be a little too forthcoming," said Xavier, trying to lighten the mood with a simple joke. Jean and Scott chuckled a bit at that, and Kitty giggled. Simon however, remained stoic.

"Your students told me that you came here with an offer," said Simon, addressing Xavier in a rather non-teenager manner, getting to the point and not beating around the bush.

"Yes," said Xavier, "I have come with an offer. One that both your family and I think could be of great benefit for you."

"But what offer is this? And why do you think I could benefit from it so much?"

Ororo took this a chance to play a good part of her involvement. "Well, Simon," she told him, "You may want to get a seat and get comfortable. There is a lot you must know about."

The meaning of those words was not lost to Simon, he could tell that when she said a lot; it probably meant a tremendous, gigantic amount of information. A lot was probably their way of sugar coating it for those who were totally unfamiliar with the information involved.

The X-Men and Logan all took seats on the sofas and chairs in the living room, much like they had done back when they arrived at the Valley mansion for the first timer earlier that night. Logan took a single seat, while Scott sat next to Jean of course and others sat together as friends. Simon took his seat in a lone armchair, which was his favorite seat in the house other than the comfortable desk chair in his room. Simon had never liked being in the center of attention for an entire audience, regardless of how big it was or who it was. But right now, it seemed like there was no way around that role. So he figured he might as well get comfortable and ride it out.

"I'm sure you've seen that my students had special 'abilities,' Simon," said Xavier, going on what he had sensed from Simon as he had entered. His strong telepathy had picked up strong and fresh memories of seeing his students use their powers from Simon, as well as Simon himself using his own. It seemed like maybe their first greeting had gotten off on the wrong foot. If that was so, he had to approach this carefully. There had been plenty of recruiting missions in the past that had started off rough and had ended well. With patience and carefully approaches, this one could too.

Realizing that Xavier had spoken about the exact same thing he was thinking at the moment, a somewhat surprised look fell over Simon's features. "I was thinking about exactly that. How did you know?"

"Well, each of us has a special talent. Mine is telepathy. I can read the thoughts of others, as well as project my own thoughts into the minds of others."

Simon tensed up, his muscles going rigid, as if by nervousness. "You-you weren't diving deep into my head just now were you?" he asked, sounding apprehensive.

Being the strongest psychic on the planet, Xavier could sense the fear and nervousness in Simon. There were varying levels of telepathy in the mutant world. Some had very limited forms, which could only be used through flesh-to-flesh contact to puck up thoughts on the surface of the conscious mind. Others had stronger forms, which they could dive deeper into the mind, from a distance. Xavier's was the strongest form of all. The ability to dive into the deepest recesses of the sub conscious from very far away. With telepathy as powerful as that, picking up emotions was something that happened regardless of whether you wanted to pick them up or not. As for stray thoughts and images, they were easily picked up as well if a person thought hard enough.

"No, Simon," assured Xavier, "It's just that sometimes when one thinks hard enough, they project thoughts unintentionally, just like you did just now. I wasn't reading your mind or anything lie that."

The tension in Simon's body started to leave it. He relaxed more. Xavier was wondering just why Simon was afraid of having someone read his mind. No one really liked someone looking into their thoughts uninvited, but he had sensed a strong sense of dread and fear in Simon with that. He made a mental note to try to find out more in the future.

"Well anyway," said Xavier, shifting the conversation, "Let's get back to the other subject. As I was saying, Simon, my students have special abilities."

"If by 'special' you mean shooting beams out their eyes, passing though walls like a ghost, shooting spikes from their bodies, and disappearing and reappearing, then yes, I think I can relate," said Simon, letting his gaze drift over the X-Men, "If that's not special I don't know what is."

Kitty and Kurt sort of giggled a bit at that comment. Even Scott and Jean smiled a little bit. By all their observations so far, that was probably the closest thing to a joke Simon had made for all the time they had seen him. It didn't exactly sound totally funny, and the reason probably was that it was not supposed to. But it was also a good sign, for it showed Simon had a least a light sense of humor in there despite his rigid character.

"Well," Xavier continued with his explanations, "I myself have a gift much like that, as does Ororo here, as well. And if I can assume correctly, you have discovered you have one too."

"You must be talking about those beams I can shoot out of myself and those shapes I can mold myself into," said Simon, trying hard to sound like he was capable of making connections in even the hardest to understand situation. He was feeling a little uneasy that this paralyzed man in the wheelchair knew so much about his secret, but yet the professor had a calming air to him that indicated that he meant well in every way and had no hostile intentions toward him.

"Yes, I was referring to that," said the professor, "And I'm sure that you've been wondering just how you are able to do such things, and how my students can as well."

"Yes, I have. Are you telling me you know why," said Simon.

"Indeed I do," said the professor, "The reason is---,"

Words of old were flowing out, but Xavier was never totally tired of saying them. He had practiced doing this for so long that it simply came natural to him, like breathing did for the ordinary person. To most others, it would be tiring to repeat the same story over and over again to so many people, but to Xavier, it was a matter of taking a needed step in the process of recruiting. He never really tired of the recruiting process, for it always present a chance for him to enlighten another mutant to his cause, helping him or her see the better way of coexistence with man other than being dominant of all Homo sapiens.

For the next fifteen minutes, Xavier told Simon all he had told his folks hours before. The X-gene, what it caused, the fact that anyone anywhere could get it even if his or her parents were non-mutant. Finally, Xavier was finished.

"Well, that's pretty strong stuff," Simon managed to get out, "But, how does it fit into this offer of yours?"

"I run an institute in Bayville, New York for gifted youngsters, youngsters who have unique talents and abilities, like you have. I teach mutants how to use their powers responsibly and for the right reasons, as well as helping them control their powers and finding all connections that they have with them. I was hoping to offer you a place at my institute. We can help you with your powers."

Simon stood up, something the others were not expecting him to do. He started to pace around the room. "What do you mean by help?" he asked, his voice sounding hopeful and also anxious at the same time.

Xavier didn't seem phased by Simon's question. The others decided that he was expecting Simon to ask a question like that. "What I mean by help is that we can help you control your powers, learn more about them. Learn to embrace and take control of them so that you can use them for the betterment of Mankind."

Simon paced back and forth as Xavier said these words, his own eyes never leaving Xavier's for more than a few seconds at a time. At the end of Xavier's last sentence, he stopped. "But Professor, you said that you HELP mutants with their powers. As I see it, help can mean a whole lot of things, including getting rid of the problem."

Ororo and Xavier exchanged glances, each of them looking confused by Simon's statement. The professor turned back to the blond-haired teenager. "I'm sorry, Simon, but I'm afraid I don't understand what you're trying to say."

Simon's shoulder slumped down in what the X-Men could only take as exasperation. "What I'm trying to say, Professor," said Simon, "is that I want to just get rid of this and go on with my life. Can you cure me?"

Cure. The word caught the X-Men by surprise. Scott and Jean looked startled, and even Logan himself seemed surprised by that. The Scott and the other teenage X-Men were suddenly wondering just how deeply things went for this new mutant. Twice in the same evening had he taken them by surprise. First he had called himself a "monster" back at the docks, which was a word they had never heard a mutant call him or herself before, and now, he had outright asked if he could be cured of his mutation, as if it was simply a bizarre case of the common cold. What was he thinking in that such a thing was possible?

After a few seconds, Xavier regained his composure. He didn't want to disappoint Simon in that he couldn't be "cured," for such a thing wasn't even possible. But then again, he couldn't lie to Simon either, for that wouldn't be fair. Xavier had always considered desiring the one thing that wasn't obtainable a common quality of the human soul, and apparently Simon seemed to justify that assumption. "Simon, try to understand," Xavier tired to calm and reassure him, "I can't 'cure' you as you put it. It simply isn't possible."

The words seemed to deflate Simon's hope. "What are you saying?"

"Mutation isn't an illness, Simon," explained the professor, "It's part of who you are. A naturally phenomena that was with you ever since you were born and it will be a part of you until the day you die. Me, Ororo, Logan, my students, it's a part of all of us. We've come to accept it so that we can move forward and grow along with our abilities, using them when we need to and when it helps others."

Simon's expression grew slightly harder. "But I don't want to be this way. I don't want to live out my life knowing I can shatter a wall just by looking at it or explode a building by touching it. It was hard enough as it was just being normal before these things started happening. I don't need these 'abilities' to deal with as well."

Scott didn't like where this was heading. Simon simply wasn't seeing the logic and truth, or wasn't choosing to. He'd known a few people who didn't want to accept the facts when they were hard to bear. There was once a time when he refused to accept the fact that he couldn't shut off his optic blasts due to the brain injury that had hindered his ability to do so. It had taken him a long time to overcome that. But he still didn't fully understand Simon's reasons. He could shut his powers on and off with ease, or so it appeared.

"Simon," the young leader cut in, "it isn't really so bad. We all used to think that way about our gifts. But that is what they are, gifts. The only reason that we thought they were curses before is because we didn't know how to use them."

"But what do you use them for, Scott?" asked Simon, his frustration growing by the minute, "You told me so yourself on our way here that you're trying to keep out of sight and out of mind from the public. So what do you use them for if you're trying to keep a low profile? You're not making sense."

Xavier could feel the frustration in Simon. He wanted to tell him everything, but there were details best left unsaid until mutants were comfortable at the institute. Had drawn several conclusions that Simon's powers could help turn the tide in a battle, but he had learned from experience that telling parents about battles was not the best thing to do at first. Maybe later on, but not in the first meeting. Maybe Scott and the others cold do some encouraging. After all, that was why he had brought them on this mission to being with.

Scott then responded, "Well, Simon, just think of this way. If you agree to come to the institute, we can help you with your powers."

"But the help I want is help to be normal," Simon protested.

"Simon," Jean cut in, "You're completely missing the point. You're asking to be 'cured' of something that isn't even a disease. The key to being helped with powers like ours is to know when to use them, how to use them, and make good use of them without interfering with public affairs or personal lives. And, of course, to fit in with all the other people out there who don't have powers. That's why we all went to the institute to begin with."

Simon turned his gaze to Jean, who was sitting right next to Scott. "But, Jean, if we're trying to keep a low profile, then why learn to control powers if we're trying to NOT use them in view of the public?"

"Because it's our responsibility," Jean answered, "and yours."

Simon froze as Jean said that. That one word, responsibility, was what affected Simon. Everyone could see it. It was as plain as the nose of his face.

Responsibility was a word Simon had never truly connected with his powers. He wasn't sure what words he would apply to them, but 'responsibility' was not one of them. He was struck speechless.

Xavier felt like he couldn't stay out of the conversation. "You really should listen to Jean, Simon," he told the young man, "What she's telling you is the truth."

Simon turned back to the professor. "So," he said softly, "What would happen if I did go to this institute?"

"Simon," said Xavier, "You're a mutant like we are. You have great, but untrained powers. And as a mutant with powers, you have a responsibility to the world, to mankind, to your family and friends, and to yourself, to learn how to take control of your powers and to use them for the benefit of the whole world. I know it may seem like a large burden to bear, but it's burden you don't have to carry alone. If you join us at the institute, we can teach how to control your powers and the right way to use them responsibly. The choice is yours, but I sincerely believe that it would be of great benefit to you if you came with us."

Everyone was silent after that. Xavier's words hung in the air like mist. So full of truth, so filled with wisdom, so deep and yet so simple. Simon took a look at all the faces staring at him, feeling out of place suddenly. He had to admit the professor was right, he did have responsibility, even if he denied it, it would always be there. If he wasn't careful, it would more than likely come back to haunt him one day. But what else was there that he hadn't thought of yet?

"Professor," Simon said finally, "Could me and my parents have a private talk, please?"

"Certainly."

With that, Simon and his parent left the room.

Once they were gone, Ororo spoke up. "That was very well said, Charles," she congratulated him on his speech.

"Your truly good vith vords," said Kurt.

"Thank you," said Xavier, "I just hope that he sees the truth in them."

"So you think he'll come with us?" asked Logan, "He sounded a little unsure of himself."

"Frankly, I think he needs all the he can get," said Kitty, "I was half-expecting him to just deny all he is, but even now, he sounds like he needs some enlightening."

"I can only hope," said Xavier, "The choice is his. We must keep that in mind. I can only hope he makes the right one."

Seven minutes later, Nicholas and Hillary Valley came back into the room, but Simon was not with them.

"Where's Simon?" asked Ororo.

Hillary answered her. "Simon is packing his things. He's decided to come to your institute."

With those words, smiles appeared for the first time on this mission.

* * *

**Well, folks, Simon has decided to join the ranks! Meanwhile, something big is happening with Mystique and Magneto. What is it? Who is it? You' ll see in the next chapter! ALso, for thoseof you who are wondering what Simon looks like when he's armored up, that will be in the next chapter. You may be surprised by it! And of course, don't forget to review!**

**Special thanks to: Agent-G, Gulogirl, Aaron, angw, kryst, whylime, Nettlez, whylime, band20**


	10. Watchers in the Darkness

Hi there everybody! I would like to say thank you for all of who have taken time to read this fic and review! I have been working on this new chapter, which I am hoping will be one that you will enjoy! I loved writing it and I hope you like reading it. Things are about to be a little mysterious and all.

And now, with no further interruptions, here is chapter 9, where my own version of the X-Men: Evolution Acolytes, along with some other familiar faces I'm sure you'll recognize will turn up! Also, so far this story has been a pretty straight forward and simple. Now, it will get a little more complex!

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Watchers in the Darkness**

What Xavier was feeling was a mixture of feelings. Feeling a mixture of emotions about any certain situation was something he was not unfamiliar with. In fact, he had mixed feelings about a lot of issues. He often saw good and potential in things, but there was always some niggling in his mind that told him to be wary of it all as well. This was one of those times. Feelings of positive and negative were totally balanced on this issue. Now he had a new student who had agreed to come to the Xavier institute. And for that, he was pleased a great deal. But there was also the part of the things that were not so positive, which almost very had.

Xavier had been unsettled somewhat by Simon's reactions to the offer at first. He could still remember feeling all the emotions coming off of Simon in that time; the anger, the frustration, the confusion, so much more. Like some of his students and instructors, Xavier saw that Simon's emotional issues ran very deeply. How deeply, he wasn't sure, but deeply was a clear feature of it. But as to why it was like that, he didn't know.

Talking to Nicholas and Hillary Valley had given Xavier a good deal of information on the changes Simon had gone through after the first signs of his powers first emerged. It sounded similar to stories his students had told him of the history of their powers before they appeared in the lives. What Xavier was really looking forward to as headmaster and as a teacher to Simon was to have that one-to-one talk that he had had with all his students on their first day at the institute. But since it was late, and with the fact that they would arrive back at the mansion near midnight, not to mention the strong possibility of having Simon meet the rest of the student body and faculty before he fell asleep for the night, that would have to wait until tomorrow.

In his hands, Xavier held a folder of information Mr. and Mrs. Valley had given him. It included a lot of things that he was required to know about a new student. The folder held Simon's medical records, his educational profile (which would help enroll him at Bayville High), and also a history of his social life, which he knew was not at a high level thanks to his time with the family and from his findings of Cerebro. Tonight, he would have to go through all this. Medical exams and documentation would come later.

Xavier looked back to the front door of the Valley mansion, where Scott, Jean, and Ororo were standing. Simon was saying good-bye to his folks, for he would not see them for a long time after this. Simon had two suit cases with him, as well as two bags that he carried slung over his shoulder. And from what Xavier saw, he was hugging his mother and father good-bye.

The Professor had seen this type of scene many times before. And he knew how hard it was for a young person to leave his or her family. But deep down he was also pleased that Simon had accepted the fact that he needed help to control his powers. Simon had power. He had potential. He had deep emotions.

Philosophy was something Xavier had never really taken deep educational studies in, however, he had been told more than once in the past few years at the institute that his students and instructors sort of considered him a philosopher whose philosophy was of peaceful co-existence between both races of humans that inhabited the planet Earth. Part of Xavier's beliefs, and thus part of his "philosophy," was that the powers of a mutant belonged to two things. The powers of a mutant belonged to that mutant as an individual and as a unique mutant from all the others. And secondly, the powers of a mutant belonged to the world at large, to be used as a tool of protecting the innocent and defending the right and the just, making good use of all its abilities to make the world a better safer place.

Mutant powers were a gift, whether mutants first believed that or not. Scott had said it best. "They only seemed like curses because we didn't know how to use them, or what to use them for." Xavier couldn't have said it better himself. Scott always seemed to be the one X-Man who was most committed to Xavier's dream. And it was hardly surprising to anyone who heard the story of Scott "Cyclops" Summers. Ever since Xavier had found Scott in the hospital after his devastating optic blasts had raged out of control, Scott had been a frightened teenager, desperate for any chance of living any kind of life. And ever since Xavier helped him with the eye beams of his powers and given him the chance of being an X-Man, Scott had considered Xavier a surrogate father and enforced the beliefs of all the things Xavier himself believed in. Maybe that was what drove Scott to convince Simon to join them at the institute.

The same was true with Jean. Jean had mentioned the part of it being his responsibility to control his powers. Responsibility was one of the most important concepts in dealing with mutant powers. Mutants had responsibility to not only themselves, but to their families, their friends, to all humankind. And that was what he tried to give mutants at his school. And hopefully, Simon Peter Valley, whose powers were truly unique in their own way, could learn to see good and potential in himself and gain the power to take on his responsibility as a mutant and fight for the cause all X-Men fought for.

But of course, doing that for this teenager would be, by no means, easy.

* * *

The computer screen was large, and filled with the blueprint of an entire building. A building that was in Bayville, but not seen by those who lived there. In fact, no one in Bayville knew this building was even there. And it was for good reason. The building this blueprint represented was not really a building at all. It was a top-secret underground testing facility.

But there was more on the screen than simply blueprints. There were also detailed files on what was going on down there. And even more importantly still, who was in charge of it all. And what their intentions were. The people were mutant haters who saw mutants as a threat. And their intentions were to get rid of them. And they were not too far off from accomplishing their goals. All it would take was time.

_Why couldn't Charles see this for himself?_ The question raced through Eric Magnus Lensherr's mind over and over again as he stared at the massive screen with both anticipation and excitement, along with feelings of anger, disgust, and relief at having his beliefs and doubts justified. Proof that mutants and humans couldn't exist together as a peaceful civilization was right here in front of him. It couldn't be denied. And it wouldn't. Magneto would see to that.

What Magneto couldn't understand was why his long-time friend turned foe would still believe that humans and mutants could live together in the world. First hand-experience with human cruelty to those considered unclean was proof that such a co-existence was a fool's dream and nothing more. And that was what Magneto had and Xavier didn't. If Xavier had it, he would see the light as well.

What did Charles know about how man treats what he considers different and unusual, or superior. Ordinary human beings were weak, foolish, and cruel creatures in Magneto's opinion. They would fear mutants no matter what good deeds were do for them to win trust. And the answer was obvious—mutants were the planet's future. Mutants were the next stage in the evolution of the planet. Humans had let their status of being the most intelligent, most evolved species of Earth's biosphere to go to their heads. Once they saw that they were no longer the ultimate expression of evolutionary potential, they would try to get it back by any means necessary. And in order to prevent mutants from taking that status from them, the Homo sapiens would have to wipe them all out.

Wipe them all out. That was Imperial Chancellor Adolf Hitler's goal during his time. Only the Aryan race was clean and fit to survive in the world. Other races were of dirty blood and soiled spirits that acted like lethal poison to the Aryan gene pool. What did that lead to? It led to the holocaust, which Eric Magnus Lensherr was a survivor and victim of. It was that experience that had given him the proof he needed to know humans would never accept Homo superior. Time and time again, man had proven that he would always treat those different from him and what he didn't understand with cruelty and merciless anger. Over and over it had happened, and the human race had never really learned from its mistakes. It was time to make sure that this mistake in particular was not made again. It had been made before, many times. This time would be the last one in history.

Magneto stood up from the chair he was sitting in. He'd been sitting for the past two hours going over these blueprints and files of what was going on in this hidden facility. And frankly, he needed a break from it all. Any more sitting and he would probably have joints stiffer than a wooden board.

The Master of Magnetism climbed to his feet and got out of his chair. He picked up his long purple cape that was hanging over one side of a computer terminal nearby and fastened it to the shiny red armor he wore over his black body suit. Then, he took his red, telepathy-blocking helmet from where it was resting and placed it on his head. Even though there were no telepathic mutants around to read his mind, Magneto preferred to keep his helmet on. Besides, it was a good precaution. There was no way of knowing when Xavier would try to scan for other mutants in the world using his Cerebro computer system. If Magneto was ever without his helmet when Xavier did that, there was a very strong chance that he would be picked up by the powerful psychic.

It was then that Magneto sensed a presence coming. It wasn't the presence of mind, for he was no telepath. It was one of those things Magneto sensed. He was good at that a lot of the time. There were times he could sense something was coming. And something was coming now. There were few windows in the large metallic room, and only one of them was open. And it was open for a reason.

Something came in through the open window. A bird. A large black bird. A raven. Just as Magneto had expected.

He watched as the black bird flew down towards him from the window and eased itself onto the metallic floor the large room. As soon as the raven landed, it started to change. It grew in size, losing the features of a bird in the process and gaining what was human, except for coloring. Seconds later, the change was complete and Mystique stood in all her blue-skinned glory. Her somewhat revealing black outfit gave plenty of view of her lithe and supple form, as well as her expert agility and flexibility in addition to her higher than normal strength level for the average woman. One look at Mystique you knew right away that she was more than capable of putting up one hell of a fight.

"Mystique," Magneto said in greeting, "I've been waiting for you."

"I came as soon as I got your message," said Mystique, "you said you had some things I needed to see."

Magneto nodded rather than speaking his thoughts. "You are correct," said the Master of Magnetism, "and in addition to that, there are some things that I wish to know. I understand your posing as that teenager at Bayville High School and being close the X-Men has allowed you to gather certain details about their way of life and of their combative resources."

What Magneto was saying was not something she wasn't prepared for, but Mystique really wanted to know what was going on here first. "Yes, I have been able to gather many invaluable things from Cerebro's files Xavier had. But I still wasn't able to go over the field entirely yet."

"For what reason?"

"If you saw how much information he has on that machine, you would understand how long it would take for me go through it thoroughly. What I need is time, as I told you over the phone."

Silence followed. "I do hope you realize that time is slowly running out," said Magneto, "Soon the time to strike against the X-Men will come. And it will be the only right time there will be."

"What I would like to know is when that time will be and what it will involve," Mystique stated, "If you want my help on this, I will need to know what is going on."

Magneto pointed to the large screen before him that portrayed a large blueprint of what appeared to be a high-tech facility. "Do you see this blueprint?" asked Magneto.

Mystique nodded. "Yes, But I don't see how that's relevant."

"This blueprint is the constructional layout of a top-secret facility in Bayville. It's hidden away from view of the citizens, and no one even knows it's here. With the possible exception of SHIELD."

That last statement made Mystique tense up. Having the X-Men on their cases all the time was bad enough, but to have SHIELD, the Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate, on their case as well would be totally unacceptable. So far, there had been no involvement from SHIELD ever since the Brotherhood and X-Men had started clashing with each other. But if anything involved SHIELD, it had to be something that couldn't be ignored or even taken lightly. Mystique suddenly wondered how SHIELD could be involved in this. Was there a part of the organization that was turning to mutant hysteria that existed within the lower ranks of its employees? That really didn't make sense. As far as things went in that regard, SHIELD knew that mutants existed, so there were all sorts of possible explanations as to why SHIELD was involved. But then she remembered Magneto said SHIELD might "know" about it. Involvement had not been mentioned.

"What kind of facility is that?" Mystique asked, "What are they doing down there?"

"I used my sources to gather information on this facility," Magneto answered, "Apparently, there is top-secret project currently underway down there. And the reason why it is so important is that it involves us. But more importantly still, it will provide us with an opportunity we must, by all means, take advantage of."

Curiosity in Mystique was aroused. "Tell me more," requested the shape-shifter. She was suddenly wondering what this opportunity was. And also, why it was.

"I've been keeping a close watch on what is going on down there," said Magneto, "And I've discovered what is being prepared there. A robotic expert from SHIELD who left the organization when he renounced his affiliation with them, is creating a robotic warrior robot that he is calling 'The Sentinel.'"

Mystique decided she didn't like the sound of that name. She knew that people with big time projects always named it with a designation that was fitting to the title. It always needed a name fitting for it, depending on what the purpose was. Here the designation was the word "sentinel." Mystique knew what a sentinel was, at least the human kind, so having a robot one was not a comforting thought. But it was also disturbing to think on what this sentinel would go after. "Why is he creating this 'Sentinel'," asked Mystique, "And why did he leave this CIA super equivalent to begin with?"

"Apparently," said Magneto in a matter-of-fact tone, "This expert, named Dr. Bolivar Trask, learned of our kind while he was serving with SHIELD and came to fear and hate all Homo superiors. He sees us as a 'menace.' He secretly set up this program to create something he hopes to use to 'patrol' mutant-kind, as he so improperly labeled it.

"His goal is to create the ultimate weapon to use against mutants, to hunt us down and destroy us. His claims of protecting humankind by creating the Sentinel are merely lies. He hopes to use the Sentinel to destroy us."

Hearing about this former robotics expert from the world's most top-secret peacekeeping organization and his plans for making a weapon to eradicate mutants was not what Mystique had expected to hear. But from what she was hearing, she actually wasn't surprised. Mystique had never even considered the possibility that humans would accept mutants in the world. They would try to wipe them out at all costs. And she was hearing justifications to that belief. With mutants, all issues were black and white, no room for grey at all. Either humans believed mutants could be here on Earth, or, they didn't. It was one or the other. And the fact of the matter was, it was the seek-and-destroy approach. Why be surprised there?

"That fool Xavier," Mystique snorted, disgust and anger present in her voice, "He was a fool to believe that mankind would accept mutants in the gene pool, and now look at this; humans are preparing to wipe us out even before we've been exposed to the general population."

"Charles is not a fool, Mystique," said Magneto, trying to make her understand what was going on, "He is merely delusional. He is blinded from the truth because he chooses not to see it. His dreams of peaceful co-existence between our two races prevent him from using his genius mind and logical reasoning to see the inevitable outcome of mutants being exposed. Humans will realize that they are no longer the apex of Earth's biological evolutionary potential, and they will fight to retake that rank in the biosphere that they no longer have a claim for. We will be feared and hated, yet Charles thinks it will be different if we appear at the right time."

"I've been wondering when this right time would come," said Mystique, regaining her calmness, "But I think it stands to reason that there is no right time to expose us to those miserable humans. They'll react the same way, no matter when and no matter the circumstances."

Magneto seemed pleased. "Your interpretation and acceptance of the truth is truly pleasing to me, Mystique. It makes you a worthy ally."

Mystique was silent, but then spoke up on a different matter. "But how does this Sentinel fit into this opportunity you told me about?"

"What this opportunity is about, Mystique," said Magneto, "is the fact that it will give me the chance to prove to Charles that his visions are wrong."

"Explain."

"The Sentinel Program is still working on its prototype model," said Magneto, "But it being so advanced a project, it is slow-going in terms of progress. It will not be ready for a few more weeks still, and that gives us the chance to push the X-Men out into the open, and use the Sentinel to reveal our kind.

"We must find a way to get the X-Men out of the Mansion, and get them to the spot where the facility is located. Once we do that, we can unleash the Sentinel from Trask's clutches, and let the citizen's of Bayville see them in the flesh, as they truly are. The people will react with fear and hatred, like humanity always does to what it doesn't understand and to what it is inferior to. The X-Men will then see how flawed Charles' philosophy of peaceful co-existence is. And if it all goes according to plan, we may be able to motive some of them to join us."

Every word that left Magneto's mouth fueled Mystique's excitement. It was about time that this should happen. She was kind of surprised they hadn't done something like this earlier. But it would prove that humans would always fear mutants. And in addition, there was the part of motivating the X-Men to join their ranks.

"Yes, I think out side could benefit from having the X-Men fight along side us," said the shape-shifter, "Seeing how humanity would fear them just for being different might open their eyes to the real world and not some delusional vision from a crippled father figure."

"How are things working on your end?" asked Magneto, changing the subject, "Are the Brotherhood members faring well."

Mystique's expression turned disgusted. "Frankly, Magneto, I'm disappointed in them. Ever since I went undercover and stayed out of their lives for a time, they've become spineless, lazy shadows of themselves. They've lost every single time they've gone up against the X-Men, they've never bothered to try to improve themselves. I've become disgusted by their commitment. Or lack thereof."

"How disappointing," Magneto commented dryly, "So much potential, yet so little commitment. Even my own son, slacking in his over-arrogant attitude. They must not see the importance of this, even after all this time serving under us."

"No they don't," said Mystique, "They only won after I let Wanda join the ranks."

"I'm sure you can see why I had no choice but to lock her away," said Magneto, sounding disappointed in himself, "Her powers were so strong, but so uncontrollable, I had to make sure they were kept away from me and Pietro. I am grateful that you've managed to finally get her the means she needs to control her powers."

Mystique shifted weight from one foot to the other in tension. So far, Wanda was the perfect weapon, but it was because of a lie. She would discover the truth sooner or later. "Yes, I've managed to make her really focus on her power. Thanks to Agatha's help, she's come a long way in controlling her powers. But it's her anger that really makes her powers formidable. Should she lose that anger, she may grow less and less formidable over time."

"Is there any particular reason why that would happen?" asked Magneto, "You told me that she is still strong with her desire for revenge on me and Pietro. It's what's kept her determined all these years. Her desire for revenge was greater than her desire to be freed from the asylum I condemned her to. So why should it wan now?"

"It's only a matter of feeling," said Mystique, "Powers and emotions are connected. With fury like Wanda's fueling her powers, it makes her truly powerful. What we need is a way to keep her determined for revenge and at the same time, make her trust me totally. If her trust in me starts to fade, we may have a problem on our hands. Should she become suspicious, our secret may be revealed."

Magneto realized that Mystique was right in that assumption. Wanda's anger did indeed make her formidable in battle, but keeping her that way might be a problem without exposing their secret. But probably Mystique could find a way.

"I'm sure you'll think of something," said Magneto, "You've proven that you can convince her before. You'll just have to deal with it when you need to. You're a resourceful woman, Mystique. I have confidence in you."

"I suppose," said Mystique, "I just need to think of something. By the way, I still think there's a mutant who has even more potential that Wanda."

That statement caught Magneto by surprise. Wanda had the power to warp reality and alter probability. What was more powerful than that?

"Who?" asked the Master of Magnetism.

"My daughter, Rogue," said Mystique.

"Ah, yes," said Magneto, "the girl you couldn't keep from discovering the truth." That last part was spoke rather scathingly.

"I didn't know she would turn on me like that," Mystique tried to defend herself. And it was true. Rogue had shown faith in her before and no signs of her using her powers on Mystique had surfaced. It was totally unexpected. But with a person like Magneto, who didn't tolerate failure, nothing was good enough as an excuse.

"No matter," said Magneto, "You're right though, your daughter does had great power. If she were rejoin our side, we could use that great power against the X-Men. She could be a powerful soldier in our army of warriors to declare our superiority over lowly humans."

"Yes," agreed Mystique, "Rogue has such potential that I can't even begin to estimate how powerful she could be. But there are many things that are standing in the way of that potential, so many flaws."

"What do you mean?" asked Magneto, confused by Mystique's words, "What are they?"

"First of all, her absorption power is only temporary. She can use other mutants' powers, but only for a brief period. If that temporary absorption was to change and become permanent, then she could be the ultimate fighter. And of course, there is the part of her organizing her powers and controlling them. I've looked through her profile on Cerebro and it said that despite Xavier's attempts to help her control her power nothing has worked. And in addition, she has lost trust in us."

"Then perhaps we must obtain the files of her genetic code," said Magneto, "Understanding her DNA may provide us with the answer to the problem of her powers fading over time. If that were to be corrected, then we could put one problem behind us."

"What do you mean?" asked Mystique, startled by that turn of conversation, "are you saying you're going to experiment on her like you did like Kurt? If so, then I say "forget it!' We've been down that road before and look what it cost me!" Her voice grew angry and hot.

Magneto merely brought up a hand to calm her. "I'm only saying that if we knew more about her genome, we may be able to overcome the part that hinders her control over it. Since my genetic enhancer on Asteroid M aided Cyclops in gaining control over his powers, it may do the same for Rogue."

Mystique thought on that, and it started to make sense. Still, she was uneasy about having her daughter's DNA altered in any way. In fact, her first response was to say "no." But then again, maybe if she helped Rogue with her powers, she could gain her trust again. After all, Rogue didn't know Mystique was her mother. Yet. That part could be revealed later when the time was right. Not right now.

While Mystique was thinking on that, she wondered if she should mention the vision Destiny had about Rogue and the unnamed boy. Maybe Magneto could help her with that in making sure it never happened. But she quickly bit pushed that back down. One thing at a time.

"However, I must see Rogue's genetic information if I am to determine how to do it. Did you see any of that on Cerebro's files?" asked Magneto.

Mystique shook her head. "No, I need time to go through the files. I haven't seen anything lie that yet because I haven't looked through the files enough. It might be there, but I'm not sure."

"Very well," said Magneto, "I suggest that once you get back to your boarding house you look into it."

"Alright. But if it isn't on there, we may need to do a little improvising."

"Whatever," said Magneto, "But remember the possibility that my plan could offer you."

Mystique looked surprised. "What do you mean?"

"If this plan goes according to my hopes, then the X-Men will be overthrown and convinced to side with us. If that happens, you could reclaim both your son and your daughter."

That caught Mystique's attention. Reclaiming Kurt and Rogue as her children would certainly be of benefit for her. Besides, it was what she always wanted. She could show them her true caring for them, make them accept her as their mother. It had to work. It HAD to! But she still wasn't willing to let Magneto experiment on her daughter. She vowed to never let that happen.

"Yes, I would like that very much," she said. Suddenly, she decided that may she could tell Magneto about Destiny's vision. Part of her said no that idea, but most of her was saying it was for the better. She chose that one. After all if Magneto could help her reclaim her son and daughter, then maybe she could aid her in keeping Rogue safe from dying. And take care of that unnamed boy if he was the cause of Rogue's suffering. If that mystery teenager was the source of Rogue's death, Mystique would be more than sure to make him pay for her daughter's untimely demise. But there was the big chance he wasn't the reason why Rogue was in danger. Destiny had said he would play a major role in both their futures. But what role was that? Mystique couldn't pin anything down on that until she knew more about him. All in all, not deciding seemed like the most logical choice.

"I think I must tell you something more," said Mystique, "You remember my friend, Destiny."

"Yes," Magneto answered, "You've told me of her before. Has she had another vision that concerns you?"

"Indeed she has," Mystique replied, "and it was about Rogue."

Magneto arched his eyebrow. "It was? What was this vision about?"

"I'm afraid it was rather vague," said Mystique, "However, according to Destiny, Rogue is in danger, danger of losing her life to something that wasn't verified."

Magneto brought up his hand to his chin. He seemed confused. "That is strange. Her visions didn't say anything on why she is in danger?"

Mystique shook her head. "No. It merely said that she is in danger of dying and that's it."

"Then perhaps you must keep an extra close watch on your daughter," suggested Magneto, "Perhaps if you watch her closely you will figure out what will cause this life-threatening danger. If so, then perhaps we can find a way to preserve her life. Should we know what causes her predicament, we can easily overcome it."

"I'll find a way to do that," said Mystique, "But there's one other thing her visions told about that you may want to know."

"What was it?" asked Magneto.

"She saw a teenage boy in her visions, who was in the danger of suffering death like Rogue was."

Magneto's interest was perked at the mention of this boy. His mind thought of all possibilities of what he could represent, or be. "Did she know who it was?"

"No, she only saw his face and that he was blond and green-eyed. She didn't catch his name or anything about him. So I don't know if he's an X-Man, a mutant with no affiliation that we know of, some civilian caught up in a fight, someone who just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time, or something else."

Magneto considered those. "Perhaps we must also keep an eye out for this unnamed boy," said Magneto, "I am curious as to who he is. Perhaps he is a mutant."

"I have the feeling that he may be the one who puts Rogue's life in danger," said Mystique, sounding a little angry at this unmanned teenager, even if it was unjustified, "He may be a mutant, but I don't know. I have no idea who he is or where he is right now."

"I understand, Mystique. We both must keep a watch for this individual. Look into anyone who resembles him. I would like to learn more about him."

"So would I. I will keep a watch out for him," said Mystique. She was about to leave, when she thought of another issue. "But Magneto, how are we going to go through with this plan with the lousy shape the Brotherhood is in right now? We're going to need mutants with skill and such to pull this plan off."

Magneto only smiled in response. "I understand that, Mystique," said the Master of Magnetism, "And there is no need for you to worry. I've already assembled another team of mutants to help us, who are now working under my hand."

With that, Magneto reached out with his right hand. Mystique heard the trademark magnetic hum and buzz of his magnetic powers working and knew something was about to move with the power. She looked to see what it was and saw he was reaching towards a large metal door. The door opened.

On the other side was pitch-blackness, featureless, nothing to be seen. But then, seconds later, five figures emerged from the darkness.

Mystique knew one of them from memory. Sabertooth was among the six. The red eyes, the blond hair, the razor-sharp claws and fangs. He looked as feral as ever, in addition to looking as inhumane as ever as well. If there was ever a mutant Mystique had found that bore the smallest resemblance to humanity psychologically, it was Sabertooth. Unlike predators of the animal world that killed to survive, Sabertooth was exactly the opposite of that. He lived to kill, not kill to live. He was a rapid dog of a man. Always on the look out for something to kill for pleasure. It was something he offered no apologies or concern for at all.

"Sabertooth," Mystique greeted, disgust clear in her voice.

Victor "Sabertooth" Creed snarled viscously, even more so than his enemy Wolverine, baring his fangs in a wolf-like snarl. "I'd think you'd be careful about how you greet me," Sabertooth snarled at the shape-shifter, who didn't seem too concerned with how Sabertooth reacted to her insults.

"Please," Mystique snapped at the feral mutant, "why should an unthinking animal like you even be bothered by what I say." She turned back to Magneto. "You're letting this mindless raging animal work under you?" she asked.

Those words made Sabertooth snarl like there was no tomorrow. He raised both his hands in preparation for an attack on Mystique when Magneto raised his hand to silence him. "That's enough, Sabertooth," said the Master of Magnetism. Sabertooth reluctantly calmed.

Magneto turned back to Mystique, who was still looking at Sabertooth with unveiled disgust. "Since you know Sabertooth already, I'll introduce you to the others."

Mystique didn't answer.

"That is Pyro," said Magneto, pointing to a red-haired man in an orange and red suit with an orange glass faceplate and a large tank with hoses attached on his back. Pyro had a look to his eye and a smile that both showed him to be one with an appetite for destruction. Mystique decided he was unpredictable at best.

"That is Colossus." Magneto pointed to a large, beefy, dark-haired young man who had massive muscles and looked like his entire body was covered with a layer of shiny silver metal that gleamed in the light of the room. He said nothing. If anything, he looked like he was here against his will, which Mystique wouldn't have been surprised at. But that was irrelevant to her.

"Gambit." The man near Colossus was wearing a brown trench coat and had unruly brown hair and the strangest eyes Mystique had ever seen in any living thing. Red on black. Ruby-colored irises with black sclerae behind them. He was shuffling a deck of playing cards in his hands. He also wore a very cocky grin on his handsome face that irked Mystique just by seeing it.

"Bonjour, Cherie Mystique," said Gambit in a Cajun-accented voice, sounding like a man who let his pride in his looks go to his head.

"I'd prefer it if you kept your remarks to yourself," Mystique snapped irritably. She knew immediately that she didn't like Gambit.

Gambit's smile only widened.

"and finally, Sunfire." Sunfire was a Japanese man in a red and white costume with a red mask that looked like a five-pointed star. He also had a look in his eyes that looked tough and as hot as his solar namesake.

"Mystique, meet the Acolytes."

* * *

Outside Magneto's base where Mystique was meeting the Acolytes for the first time, the night in the city was vast. The moon was full and out, casting a bright light over the city. The stars dotted the Sky, casting a beautiful show of sparkles all about the void.

Magneto's base was deep underground underneath one of the buildings here. This part of Bayville was not very active at any time. Most of the buildings were abandoned and no on really came here out of interest because there was nothing of real interest here to see. And that was what Magneto used to his advantage in keeping his operation secret as best he could. With operations like this, you needed all the coverage and secrecy you could acquire.

But unknown to Magneto, Mystique, or anyone else, for that matter, there were those who knew of this secret base of Magneto's. Try as Magneto might, there would be those who knew of his secrets, no matter how deeply they were buried.

On a rooftop of an abandoned warehouse, over 200 feet away from the outsides of Magneto's base, stood two figures. Both of them were shrouded in long hooded cloaks that covered them except for their faces, for they wanted to blend into the night as much as possible. Both of the figures had glowing red eyes that gleamed like sinister flames in the night's darkness. Both of them had been waiting here for the past hour or so. And they had done what they had been sent here to do.

They had seen Mystique in her bird form enter Magneto's base. They had been told that she would arrive at the time she did. And the calculated time was correct. After that, they had used their telepathy to scan the minds of those inside the room, who weren't impervious to psychic energies.

"So it appears that their calculations of the timeline were correct," said the shorter of the two, a bald man wearing a long purple cloak with a lean, narrow face that was covered with jagged patterns of green tattooed lines. His eyes, glowing red with his powers, where filled with cruel hardness. "Magneto and Mystique have started their plans to expose Mutant-kind in the hopes of making mutants see the pitiful truth on their weaker brethren." He was Mesmero, an evil mind-controlling mutant telepath who used others to do his dirty work. "A most unwise move, don't you think?" Mesmero asked his companion, already knowing that he would agree with him.

"Truer words were never spoken," said the other figure, "Magneto and Mystique are both fools, just like that miserable Xavier. They're fools, all of them. They're only setting up what will lead to their own undoing and they don't even realize it." The other figure was a few inches taller than Mesmero and was wearing a black cloak that was secured around the waist with a fancy silver belt decorated with images and patterns of occult symbolism, a jewel-eyed skull on the buckle. But unlike Mesmero, the second figure had no resemblance to a human at all. Underneath his hood was a demonic face, bearing no similarity to a human's in the least. He had a hairless scalp covered with short hooked spines that pointed backward like small quills and elongated jaws that looked like the cross between the jaws of a gorilla and the jaws of a wolf containing jagged, pointed fangs. His featureless eyes were crimson red with evil hatred. He possessed no ears and his skin was covered with rough, crusty dark blue scales, giving it the appearance and texture of blue alligator hide. Once called Amahl Farouk, he was now known to all who knew of his existence as his self-appointed alias "the Shadow King," a bizarre hybrid of supernatural demon flesh and mutant psychic energy. Like Mesmero, he was a telepath, but of a higher caliber. In addition, he could send his psychic being out of his flesh and blood body as a psychic entity and possess and inhabit the bodies of others, feeing off their negative emotions using his telepathic powers to fuel his evil hatred, making it grow darker with each absorption.

"We have done all we need to do here," said Mesmero, "We must now do the second part of our assignment and see if the other events predicted for tonight are underway."

Shadow King nodded his demonic face in agreement under his hood. "Yes, Let us travel to the Xavier Mansion to see if the other events they told us to confirm are occurring as calculated."

* * *


	11. Raiden

**Chapter 10**

**Raiden**

"Having your world turned upside down" was a phrase that Simon had always considered to be an exaggerated phrase that never applied to real life, mainly because it had never really happened to him. But then again, the time his powers had emerged had been pretty close. But by now, he had decided his world had been turned upside down. In the span of only a single evening, so many things had changed that he couldn't imagine it could happen in only a few hours. It had all started with a simple walk around his home city, like he always did at night for exercise. He had stopped someone from hurting someone else using his armored state, which was the last thing he had wanted to do, found a group of people who had power similar to his, and finally been offered a place at "school for gifted youngsters" as Professor Xavier had called it.

Simon had never considered himself gifted in anyway, not as intellectually gifted student, nor as a physically star athlete, and of course, certainly not with his powers. In addition, he never really wanted to have powers to begin with. A normal quiet life as a civilian was what he wanted. But apparently fate had had something totally different in mind for him. He was a mutant, a genetically evolved human. Now he was going to a school for them.

He had responsibility, as Xavier and Jean Grey had told him about back at his house. And he also had a chance to be with those who were like him. As they had told him, they were lying low for the time being, for most out there weren't ready to accept mutants as people. Simon could understand that. Hell, he knew that from first-hand experience, which he hated to think about at any given time.

Right now, he was sitting in what he considered the fanciest, most advanced jet he had ever seen. He was sure that even the military didn't have aircraft like this in their ranks. In fact, if Simon had been more naïve than he really was, he would have thought it was from a sci-fi movie. They had called this the Blackbird. Simon had been totally surprised when they had taken him from his house out to the middle of nowhere in the woods. Seeing the empty spot, Simon had asked where the transport. And with a mug grin on his face, Xavier had tapped a button, dropping the Blackbird's cloaking field. It had seemed more sci-fi than ever when that happened. Everyone had found his flabbergasted expression amusing. Scott had even said, "Later on after you're settled in, we'll show you how to fly this thing."

That threw Simon through a loop. Simon had always been interested in aircraft, but he knew next to nothing about how to pilot them. Simon made a mental note to prepare for a very long course of simulation before he even set a finger on the control stick. But he put that aside. Learning to fly something like this would take a long time. Simon was patent though and could wait for as long as it took. Beside, he had long figured that there were more important things to come before that happened.

In the meantime, the other X-Men were carefully riding out the ride with him, enjoying themselves and the cruise. For the most part they were pleased that they now had a new member of the institute. They tended to be excited whenever a new recruit agreed to join them. They were eager to get to know their new teammate and for him to know them.

However, they were also a little concerned and wondering on how to do that. Simon had proven that that he was not exactly an over-happy, over zealous person. He hadn't smiled once during the entire trip, not once. But at the same time, he hadn't tried to lash out at them for any reason, or show anger. Over and over, the X-Men found their gazes drifting over to him. He still didn't speak much unless someone asked him a question or tried to converse with him. Simon didn't say much, which meant he only spoke when he had something very important to say. Simon was very unreadable.

Scott and Jean were wondering a lot on him as well. Both of them had long decided that Simon was the strong and silent type of person. Scott could see a lot of his own qualities in Simon, mainly his seriousness and strong-will. But Simon's caliber of those qualities were higher than Scott's, or at least at a glance. The two boys had exchanged a few sentences here and there over the course of the flight back to the mansion about what it was like there, Scott giving the details as Simon asked a few questions. Scott was always edger to help others see the light in Xavier's dream of peace and he was hoping to do the same thing for Simon. But still, the one thing that Scott wondered was if the two of them would see eye-to-eye. And not with optic blasts either.

Scott had wondered from time to time if Simon would ever act immature and not follow the rules like some of the other recruits did. But that was long ago and he had decided Simon wouldn't. He didn't look like the type of recruit who was of a devil-may-care attitude and fun-loving nature. In fact, he seemed to be more rigid and stern than Scott himself. That last part made Scott wonder what would happen between them. While not as gruff or fierce as Logan could be, Simon had proven he could be fierce and hostile if provoked. And the fact he had a bad-temper was clear as well. However, he was sure they could handle that. And of course, time at the mansion would help lower those barriers. After all, Rogue herself was pretty hotheaded, as was Ray Crisp, and he handled them just fine. And of course there was Logan himself, the epitome of X-Men temperamental shortness. Simon Valley was going to be quite a puzzle to solve.

While Scott was thinking on that, Jean felt a little disturbed by two things, Simon's attitude and his powers. Jean had not really seen a mutant with powers like Simon's before. Having all those types of energy he could throw or mold into weapons gave him a radical arsenal, and there was also the armor she remembered the professor telling them about hours ago. And even though he had shown them that he lacked experience using his powers against other mutants, they packed a tremendous punch. But Simon's attitude towards them was not all that reassuring either. He had made some rather scathing remarks about himself, calling himself a monster, yet he hadn't made any real insult to the X-Men. That was what worried Jean. Monster. That was a word she had never heard a mutant use to describe himself. Of course the big question was why he would use that one himself. As far as Jean was concerned, no self-respecting mutant would do that. It gave a clue that Simon didn't have much self-respect. But she had no way of knowing. Her first theory on why presented her with a disturbing issue. Maybe Simon had inner demons he was struggling with as the result of an incident involving his powers. But as before she had no way of knowing.

Perhaps that was why Simon had asked to be cured. He just wanted his powers gone so that he wouldn't have to live with them, with the fact that he could case destruction easily. Powers like his were destructive, that much as certain. Jean guessed that the number one thing to do with Simon was not helping him with his powers, but with himself.

Jean could relate. Her telepathy had made going out in public nearly impossible for her when it first emerged. Hearing all the stray thoughts and psychic static gave her skull-splitting headaches and then seizures later one when the effects became even worse. Add telekinesis to that, and her life was made even more of a hassle. Jolts of pain shooting through her skull, static of thoughts roaring in her brain, her telekinetic energies caused objects to float and fly and crash. But looking back on that, Jean realized once again how far the professor had helped her come. If he could do that with her mental powers, Simon' physical powers probably wouldn't be too hard.

* * *

It was around 11:15 p.m. by the time they arrived back at the institute, but it was evident that the New Mutants, ever so feisty and full of liveliness, were still awake. Xavier could see that the lights were still on in the mansion. In fact, he could feel their presence as well, which was the result of his powerful telepathy going full out with picking up emotions. Since Xavier hardly felt a thing when around sleeping people, he was more than familiar with the difference with being around sleeping people and awake people. The difference was as different as black was from white.

In truth, Xavier was pleased that the New Mutants were still up, for he was looking forward to introducing Simon to the rest of the institute tonight. In the morning, it would kind of be a surprise for them all. And Xavier liked to introduce people when everyone was up and awake. There was no Danger Room session scheduled for tomorrow and that meant a lot of the kids would be sleeping in. Better introduce the new member now.

Xavier looked back over his shoulder to his students in the back, all his senior students and his latest recruit. All were looking out the windows to the sights outside. Even Simon himself, who had up until now been looking straightforward with a blank expression, was looking outside. And his expression was far from blank.

"We're here," said Ororo from the cockpit seat near Xavier.

Xavier noticed Simon's eyes narrow in confusion. "I have a question."

"Fire away, Bub," said Logan, ready to make Simon's eyes widen with a surprise if he could manage.

"Where's the runway?"

Logan had to bite his lip to keep himself from laughing out loud. The kid was so going to be surprised by the answer to that.

Before Logan could answer, Kurt took over for him. "Not to vorry mien fruend," said Kurt, "It's zhere. You just can't see it yet."

"Meaning what?" asked Simon, looked puzzled.

"Just wait for a second Simon," said Scott, "And you'll find out." Scott was watching Simon with a small smile. He knew the reactions with seeing the underground facilities of the institute for the first time. Surprise was one word to describe them. Shock was one word that could be used to describe the more severe cases of astonishment the sights provoked in a person.

The X-Jet circled around over the mansion, giving Simon ample time to see how it stood on its own cliff overlooking the vast blue waters of the Atlantic Ocean. After doing a few turns here and there, it went out over the ocean farther away from the mansion. Simon looked confused by the going away from the mansion, but then as the X-Jet started back towards the mansion, his confusion started to subside a little. Then the X-Jet started hovering the air in front of the cliff, facing the rocky side.

Simon was about to ask why they were simply hovering in the air with no landing place in sight, when suddenly part of the rocky wall shifted. The formation pushed itself out and away from the rest of the cliff, parting a waterfall that covered it like a curtain. What was left wide open was a large doorway that looked to all mechanical. Inside was a long passageway that was big enough for an airplane to fit in. Or a jet. Simon sat with wide eyes at the spectacle.

"There's your runway," said Rogue, smiling at Simon's surprised expression, "Only it's underground, built into the side of the cliff."

Simon was still struck silent.

It was then that the X-Jet was then steered into the hanger underneath the mansion. Once the engines were off and all the safety mechanisms were in place, Xavier shut off the power of the jet. All the lights and dials on the advanced terminals of the cockpit went out, like a Christmas tree being unplugged.

"We're here," said Xavier, "Everybody out." With that, everyone left their seats and chairs.

As Simon stepped out, he found himself in a large hanger. To say that he was surprised by what he saw was an understatement. He had expected to land somewhere, but not in an underground hanger that was built into the side of a cliff behind a waterfall. If Simon hadn't known any better, he would have said this was the type of holding bay that only the military themselves could afford to have. Everything was what appeared to be state-of-the-art. All the walls, floors, and ceilings were so shiny that you would have thought it was of a mirror surface. In addition, there was what appeared to be a large walkway going from one side of the hanger to the other, complete with railing and doors that resembled the hatches found in a battleship rather than in a house.

Amusing. That was how Rogue found Simon as he looked all around him, taking in the sights of the marvelous wonders around. In fact, he looked so immersed in the lay out he probably didn't even realize he was carrying his bags and suitcases.

"So, is this enough for yah?" asked Rogue.

"Wow." That was all Simon could say in response to her question.

Simon's reactions were not going unnoticed by the rest of the group. And if this was anything to go by, it was a good sign. Simon Peter Valley, who had up until now been as stoic as a Vulcan from Star Trek, was showing signs of emotion. It was a good sign, for it made it clear he was opening up. Or at least was able to when there were the right things present to make him. And if the surrounding area of the institute intrigued him, then it stood to reason the people here and what they did as well could intrigue him. If he could adjust to that, then everything else about being an X-Man would fall into place.

Scott approached him from behind. Simon was so busy taking in the sights that he didn't even notice Scott trying to talk to him. Scott said his name twice, but he still didn't respond. It was only when Scott laid a hand on his shoulder did Simon notice him.

"Simon, we need to keep moving," said Scott with a smile, "There'll be time for seeing the sights later."

A slight tinge of rose hue crept into Simon's face. Since his skin was so fair, the slight blush was very noticeable. "Sorry, Scott," he said, "I just got carried away."

Scott only smiled and led him back to the group.

"If you think this is nifty, Simon," said Logan, smirking at Simon's embarrassment, "Wait till you see the Danger Room."

Simon froze at the name "Danger Room." "Danger Room?" he asked, sounding nervous and confused at the same time.

"It's our training area," said Ororo, "You'll see it soon."

With that being said, the group continued on to Xavier study. The Professor had sent a telepathic message to all those on board the X-Jet as they were flying that they were to proceed to his office so that Simon could be given a little heads up of what was expected of him and to prepare him to see the rest of the student body.

When the group was finally seated all around in the professor's study, much like they had hours earlier at the beginning of the night when the recruitment mission was discussed. The professor finally got to the part of making formal introductions.

Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Evan, and Rogue took seats in the chairs and sofas while Xavier positioned himself behind his desk in his wheelchair, Ororo and Logan positioned beside him like two sentinels. The others had to admit that Xavier could look formidable indeed with Logan and Ororo standing there beside him, despite him being confined to his wheelchair.

Simon had set down his bags near the door, for he didn't want to have to carry them anymore than he should. They were starting to get heavy, even though he had packed light. He hadn't really packed a lot of entertainment-wise items, for he figured that getting the know the students and faculty members here at the institute would take up a lot of his time over the nest few months. And if they were going to help him with his powers, time to spare could possibly be a luxury. Simon had long figured his loner-by-nature attitude would probably be put to the test here, for he would have to overcome it.

Xavier smiled at Simon, who remained standing up like an officer being addressed my a court martial in lawsuit. "Have a seat, Simon," he offered gently.

Simon was silent for a second. The others thought he was about to argue, but he merely nodded and found an empty chair that was facing directly at the professor's desk. It was the only chair free, and the others probably knew it was the right place for him, as he was the new student.

Simon had done this sort of thing before. He had switched schools a couple of times in his life. He had gone from the schools in Seattle, Washington to middle school in the city of New Founders in southern Washington, and finally to high school in Moonriver Falls. Being the new kid before had given him experience and preparation, but it didn't really make the job easier. Some things in life just never got easier, no matter how many times you did them.

"Comfortable?" asked Xavier.

"Yes," said Simon.

"Well, Simon, before we help you get settled in and introduce you to the rest of the school, there are a couple of things that we must discuss," said the psychic.

"Alright," said Simon, carefully listening. Once again, Simon was in the middle of attention. And as before, he didn't feel any different that the previous times he was the center of attention. He felt the almost uncontrollable urge to vibrate his right leg up and down rapidly, which was a habit he had picked up years ago. He had no idea how that came to him, but it had. He didn't want to show his new colleagues that habit. They would probably think it meant he was nervous and he didn't want them to think that. Having years of experience of keeping his face neutral and straight was real handy tool when it came to concealing emotions he didn't want others to think about. All the same, the temptation to vibrate that leg was strong. It would go away once he stood again.

He'd done this dance before, so why was it that it never go easier? _Can the self-asking questions_, Simon thought to himself, _focus here and shut your mental self up. Take in what he's going to say to you_.

Unknown to Simon, Rogue was noticing how his muscles were tightly clenched, even though to an outsider he might look relaxed. Rogue knew he would be tense like that. And even though she wasn't psychic and unable to pick up his feelings, she could relate. This was reminding her of her of when she turned her allegiance over to the X-Men when she had absorbed Mystique's thoughts and memories in the underground cave where she had tried to defeat Rogue and Scott. She had sat in with the rest of the senior students, had the formal introduction that Professor Xavier was about to give right now, and of course, she was the center of attention at that point like Simon was now. Being the loner type she was, she never being the center of an entire crowd. She hadn't really enjoyed that. It stood to reason that Simon felt the same way.

"First off," said Xavier kindly, "I would like to tell you on what to prepare for the times ahead, both here and at Bayville High School that you will be soon attending."

Simon was not surprised as he expected himself to be at Xavier's words. The professor had told him that since he wasn't finished with High School, he would be completing it at Bayville High, which was where all the Senior X-Men attended. Simon wasn't surprised with that. Move to another state, move to another school. It was a packaged deal. He was more interested in the part of what lay ahead in terms of his training as Xavier had put it.

"Here at the Institute, we have numerous training sessions almost on a daily basis," said Xavier, "These training sessions include a wide variety of learning fields. The reason for these is to help you familiarize yourself with your powers, as well as prepare yourself for the many types of missions we go on a lot of the time.

"There will be sessions as a group and also individual exercises. Each member of the student body has both group activities and personal training sessions, both to help them learn on how to master their abilities and to help them become familiar with their team members. It helps us understand each other's strengths and weaknesses so that we can function together as a team and as a single unit as best possible."

"Sounds good to me," said Simon, almost automatically.

"And of course," said Xavier, shifting the topic, "here we do not use our powers in view of the public."

"Right," said Logan, "Which means, no daredevil heroic stunts." He gave Simon a look that said, _no arguments, no exceptions, follow that rule at all times_.

Hearing that from Logan, it sounded disproving. The others could clearly tell Logan didn't exactly approve of Simon's act last night, when he saved the two girls from the robbers. In truth, he didn't approve period. Either Logan approved of something entirely or not at all. Simon's actions got the latter.

Simon shifted his gaze over to Logan, this time, there was no hostility or anger in his eyes. Only understanding of what Logan meant. "You're still not upset about what I did to help those two hostages, are you?" he asked, calmly, "What was I supposed to do, just sit back and let them get hurt?"

Logan let out a sigh of frustration. Right now he did feel frustrated. Keeping out of sight was the best thing to do right now in the world if you were a mutant, but he knew the kid had a point that couldn't be denied. It was pretty much a stalemate of logic here.

"Simon," said Xavier, "Yes, helping others is the right thing to do. We're not criticizing you on your motives. But we must try to remain anomalous. It was lucky that no one knew the cause of it all, and that it wasn't you who did it. But right now, with so many people not ready to accept us for all we are, we simply must try to blend in with the general population. For now, we simply must maintain our secret gifts as 'secret.'"

Simon let out a large breath of air. "Yes, Professor," he admitted, "I just felt like I had to do it."

"I understand, Simon," said Xavier, "But you really mustn't do things like that. Until the world is ready to accept us, you really must follow the lead that all of us do."

"And that means no playin' hero commando," said Logan, "Or doin' any lightshows with powers or things like that. I hope that's clear to ya."

"Yeah, it's clear. I assure you," said Simon, leaning back in his chair, feeling a little pounded into the ground with them repeating it over and over.

"So, are there any questions you have?" asked Ororo.

Simon looked at the weather witch, then at Logan, then at Xavier. "Not right now," he replied, "but I'm sure I'll have some soon once I see what this place is like."

That response made Xavier smile. Logan and Ororo smiled as well. "I'm sure you will, Bub," said Logan, "I'm sure you will." The smirk on Logan's face was enough to make a person's skin crawl, sly and mischievous, which it sure did to Simon.

Suddenly, Jean had an idea. It was something that may be sudden, but she figured it was a good idea to take care of this little chore now. In addition, maybe the others could help him decide on it, or at least give ideas to work with. That could be another benefit of doing it now. She decided to ask Scott to see if he agreed.

"_Scott?_" she asked her boyfriend telepathically.

"_Yeah_, _Jean?_" he thought back in response.

"_I just got the idea that now might be a good time to asked Simon to decide on his codename. I jus thought now is as good a time as any._"

For a moment, Scott merely thought. He thought some more. Then, after a few seconds he told her, "_Sounds good to me._"

Jean looked from Scott and towards the Professor. "Professor," Jean said, "How about we ask Simon to decide now?" she said.

Xavier looked up at Jean's statement, his brow furrowed with lines of confusion. Decide. Decide on what? He wasn't sure what she was referring to at his point. They hadn't really brought up anything that needed to be decided. Surely if something had to be decided right now, it had to be important. And of course, Xavier would have thought of it. "Uh, ask him?" he asked aloud. Then he communicated with Jean via his telepathy. "_What are you referring to, Jean?_"

"_Well, Scott and I just thought that now might be a good time as any for him to decide on his codename. It's open for deciding, so we figured what the hell._" The redhead responded back with her own thoughts.

The confused look on Xavier's face vanished just them, and a look of understanding and realization came over it. "Ah, yes," he said, trying to play along with Jean and Scott, who were smiling at his little part of the game, "Simon," he said, turning back to his new student, "While we're here and thinking about it, I think we should decide on you codename."

Simon arched on eyebrow, which the others took as sign that he wasn't expecting for that sort of thing to come up. "Codename?" he asked, sounding curious.

"Yes," said Xavier, "Scott." He thought that maybe the other students could help out here.

"You see, Simon," said the young field leader, "We all have codenames. They're names that we go by whenever we're in training or on missions."

The look on Simon's face didn't change, indication that he still didn't understand what Scott was getting at.

"We have them so that we can conceal our true names for safety reasons and to help us remain anomalous. It helps use conceal our true identities. It's sort of like what they use in the military," Scott hoped that would make sense.

For a moment, Simon thought deeply on that. He knew a few things about the military's need for being secretive and to keep true identities from falling to the knowledge of the enemy. For this, with all the secrecy and need to lay low, it made perfect sense. It came to him. "Ah," he said, "I get ya." He was quiet once more, and his features took on a thoughtful look. "So, what's mine?"

"Well, Simon," said Jean, "Each of use chooses our own. That's one of the good parts of it."

"What we basically do with codenames is use our powers as a basis for it," said Scott, "Ororo can control the weather, so she got the code name Storm. There's one example."

Storm as a codename for a mutant who could manipulate weather. That made sense. "I can see the connection," said Simon, "What's yours?" the question was directed at Scott.

"Cyclops."

"Cool." Even though Simon couldn't quite see how Scott's namesake could apply to him, other than having a unique feature in relation to the eyes, he thought it sounded cool.

"So what do you think would be a good one for you?" asked Kitty, trying to be helpful.

Everyone watched as Simon thought for a second. Then for two seconds. Finally half a minute. He tried to think of a good name that could go along with his powers of energy and armor, but he had trouble. There were so many words he could think of that related to either power, some comic, some scientific, some mythical, some merely cool-sounding. He couldn't decide. His eyes lost their deep look at that point. "Any help would be appreciative."

"Hey," said Evan, "How about _Dynamo_?"

"That sure fits with my ability create energy," Simon agreed. Evan started to beam a little with the possibility that Simon would accept his suggestion. "But that makes me sound like something from a battery commercial. No one would respect a guy with a codename like that"

Kitty and Kurt started chuckling at Simon's remark, finding his statement that that made him sound like a battery commercial funny. They figured no mutant who wanted his enemies to respect him would take a name like that. Even Xavier looked a little amused, as Scott and Jean smiled. Evan however, didn't like being turned down. "Hey, it was a good name."

"Maybe so, Evan. But I prefer something else," said Simon.

The next person to make a suggestion was Kitty. "Simon, you wouldn't like to have the codename _Sparky_ would you?" she smiled teasingly at Simon, hoping he would be amused by her joke. However, Simon looked at Kitty and gave her a bored/annoyed look that said, _oh course I don't like that, so why did you even suggest it?_ Realizing he didn't find her joke funny, Kitty merely shrugged at that. "I thought not," she said, smiling slightly at him.

Meanwhile Kurt was trying to help Simon as well, trying to think of a possible suggestion. As Kurt searched his thoughts, he remembered something that Simon's powers of energy reminded him of. The flashes and power of Simon energies reminded him of thunder and lightning. Those words sounded serious enough, and cool at the same time.

"Vell, How about _Thunderstorm _or _Thunderbolt_?" he suggested, remembering such names as the names of superheroes form a few comics he had read while he was here.

Thunder. Simon thought on that word. Yes. That word did sound serious, as he liked. Simon had never been one to name characters with comical sounding names or funny sounding names. But thunder, that really seemed to relate to his energy. Thunder and lightning were good metaphors of his powers, at least his energy powers. "Lighting" suddenly sounded too cumbersome a word, and a little too fancy. "Thunder" however sounded less of a struggle and more to the point. He decided he liked that word more.

"Yes," he said, "Thunder. That's a good word for energy. But maybe I could add another word after that. Make it a little more…personal."

Kurt suddenly looked confused. "Vhat's vrong vith _Thunderstorm_?" he asked.

"That sounds too much like Ororo's," said Scott, "We need to make ourselves as different as possible in the battlefield. If both of them heard the name STORM, there could be confusion."

Kurt thought it through. He suddenly realized that the codenames of all the members were totally unlike the others. None were similar. "oh, I zee," said the German mutant.

Possible companion words for "thunder" were going through Rogue's mind as Kurt said what he did. She came up with a lot of them, for a lot of good-sounding words came up, like "knight," "phantom," "ghost," "man," or maybe even "blade." But as Rogue thought of those, she kind of thought they sounded too fancy and cumbersome. This was proving to be difficult in a lot of ways. So many possible things to choose from. But this was Simon's name they were deciding, not hers.

Suddenly, Rogue thought of looking for a name that could represent Simon's nature. In fact, she them realized that a lot of people had codenames that told someone about their nature. Hell, she was one of them. She was a rogue, which was her codename. As hurtful as that word sounded, it was a very apt and fitting one for her. Then of course, there was Berserker, whose name gave clues to his hotheaded attitude. Finally, there was Wolverine, who was like his namesake in everyway imaginable; senses, ferocity in battle, animal cunning. Hell, he even had the wolverine's claws to make the portrait complete. Rogue tried to think of a good name for him in that field of thinking. But couldn't.

"Well," said Xavier, seeing that everyone was having problems helping Simon, "I may be of help."

"What?" asked Scott, curious.

Xavier saw that Simon thought thunder was a good word to go into his title. But maybe it could be a little more exotic possibly. Maybe have a title that was the namesake of a thunder elemental or god. Being intelligent and having spent years outside the states in many countries around the world, the professor knew a few things about world mythology and elemental spirits.

"How about _Raiden_?" he suggested, directing it right at Simon.

People looked to Simon to see how he liked that name. Some half-expected him to turn it down, but instead, he brought his hand up to his chin. An eyebrow rose. For a moment all he did was look that way. Finally he spoke.

"Uh," he said slowly, "what does it mean?" The others were thinking the same thing, for they all had curious looks on their faces.

"Raiden," explained Xavier, "is the Japanese god of thunder. I know a little about Asian mythology. Since Simon thought thunder was a good metaphor of this powers, I thought maybe some mythological representative of it could be an interesting approach."

Simon thought for a second. Being named after an ancient god of thunder and lightning seemed to fit him. Besides, he liked the sound of it, for it wasn't comical or humorous and sounded serious enough without sounding egotistical. "Yeah. I like the sound of that. Raiden will be perfect."

"Well, now that that's taken care of, I now believe it's time to introduce our newest member to the remainder of the institute, said Xavier, smiling in satisfaction, "After he gets settled in."

People started to climb to their feet to stand. A few stretched their limbs out to get the tightness out of their joints and muscles. A few pops of joints could be heard as well.

"Scott, Jean, Rogue" said the professor.

"Yes, Professor?" asked Scott. Jean and Rogue were looking at Xavier, as well wondering what he would request of them.

"Would you three please show Simon to his room? I believe that he will want to place his belongings in a safe place before he meets the rest of our students."

"Sure, Professor," said Jean.

Simon had picked up his bags, and was already placing the last on over the top of his shoulder to secure it.

Xavier steered his wheelchair over to Simon just as he put the strap over his shoulder. He then reached out with his hand to Simon's to shake it. Simon didn't notice at first, for he was too occupied with his task. However, he took notice right away and then reached out his hand to Xavier's, who shook it warmly. "Welcome to the X-Men, Simon."

Simon smiled back, a full one this time. "Thank you, Professor," he said politely.

"Come on, Simon," said Scott, "We'll show you to your room."

Simon walked towards the young trio. "Lead the way," he said, and they left.

Once the four were gone, Xavier looked to the rest of the senior students. "Will the rest of you please go the living room? I'll inform the others to meet up there as well so we can all give Simon a full welcome."

"On it," said Kurt.

"We're so like there," said Kitty.

The remaining three teenage X-Men left the room, leaving Xavier and his two instructors alone. Xavier sat, looking at the door, deep in thought.

Logan and Ororo left their spots behind his desk to join Xavier. "So, Charles, ya think he's X-Man material?" asked Logan.

"He definitely has great potential, Logan," responded the psychic, "A world of potential, I might say, just like all our students." It was true. Xavier believed that all mutants had potential for good in the world, to make good of powers, and Simon was no exception. But he always had to keep track of other things as well. His thoughts drifted back to the conversations he had had earlier with Simon, sensing the frustration and anger in his voice when he asked to be cured of his "disease." Xavier had long realized that he may have to do some emotional sessions with Simon as well.

"You ok, Chuck?" asked Logan, seeing Xavier deep in thought.

"Yes," Xavier replied, "However I do believe that our new member's emotional issues run very deep."

Logan nodded. "Yeah," said the former Weapon-X soldier, "I could tell back when we first met him that he has some issues with himself."

"That do you mean, Logan?" asked Ororo, "What did you see?"

"The kid's got quite a temper," explained the Canadian mutant, "You should have seen 'em when he looked me right in the face, which no kid has ever done to me up until now. He looked ready to pounce on me at the slightest move. And he didn't exactly have the normal, 'innocent teenager' air to him."

"What are you saying, Logan?" asked Ororo.

"What I'm sayin' Ro," said Logan, "is that he looked like a kid who never knew the cozy comforts of teenage life. Unlike some of the others here."

"I sensed a lot of anger in him," said Xavier, going on with the conversation, "Strong anger and frustration. Even guilt."

"Kinda like the Scarlet Witch?" asked Logan, hoping that the answer was no. If this kid had anger like that, Logan would see to it personally that he was given restrictions that would prevent anyone from so much as ticking him off. He didn't want a teen with anger that was able to literally bring the house down on your head. Well, perhaps not bring down the house, but leave holes the size of craters in your wall.

"Wanda's anger is far greater than Simon's," said the professor, "But Simon still carries a great deal of it in himself. More than the ordinary teenager I might add. We may have to do a fair amount of things for him in order to help him with that. Part of giving him the help he needs could very well be helping him come to terms with whatever caused it."

"Why is there guilt?" asked Ororo, "Do you know what the source of all this emotion in him is?"

Xavier shook his head. "No, he didn't tell us yet. And I'm not going to pry. We must give him time to adjust to life here, and then we will see if he is ready to tell us.

"Well," Xavier continued, "Why don't you two head down to the living room and meet up with the others. I'll be down shortly to introduce Simon." Logan and Ororo nodded and left the room.

The professor placed his fingers to his temples to send out a telepathic message to everyone. _"Everyone, could you please meet in the living room for an important announcement?"

* * *

_

Through the hallways of the mansion, up staircases and down again, and opening the occasional door, Scott, Jean, and Rogue walked towards Simon's room, Simon himself in tow, hauling his luggage in his arms and over his shoulders. Scott and Jean were leading the way, as Rogue maintained her position by Simon's side.

As they walked through the hallways, Simon was taking the opportunity to see the sights. He would have been lying if he said this house didn't impress him. IN fact, he was nothing short of astounded right now. For one thing, this was fancier than any house he had been in during his life. Even his own, house, which had been a mansion itself was half as large as this one. And not to mention perhaps 25 percent less fancy. Everything was so elaborately decorated and arranged, as if paid butlers and maids kept this place squeaky clean every second of every day. Oil paintings, fine furniture, so many things that Simon knew could only be owned by a wealthy person were in abundance here, along with busts and chandeliers as well. This mansion was one of a kind.

One of a kind in more ways that one. Simon was even more impressed with the facilities he had seen deep underground below the mansion, the metal corridors, the massive hanger built into the side of the cliff, and finally the X-Jet. Simon had been temped to ask the Professor how the hell he managed to afford such a piece of technology, but didn't. Xavier had seemed like a resourceful sort of man, more resourceful than the presidents of most business companies. Simon still thought that stuff was so state-of-the-art that perhaps it shouldn't even be made yet. But he pushed all his wonders aside. If he wondered anymore, he was sure to have brain pain from over exerting his thoughts.

"This is some place," said Simon, "I was expecting this school to be like an academy sort of place, some military school example, not in a mansion with more state-of-the-art tech stuff than the CIA, and not to mention its own jet. I never expected to see a jet like yours in my life."

Rogue looked surprised at that. "Really? That's what you were expecting?"

A shrug was Simon's response. "Maybe," he said.

"What do yah mean by 'maybe?'" she asked, a little confused by his answer.

"Well, Mr. Xavier said it was a school, so I thought in terms of dorms, classrooms, maybe even a lab for experiments or two here and there. But since this was a school for mutants, my mind just did a lot of twists and turns on me."

"Well, this school has all that an' more," said Rogue, "It has a pool, gym, weight room, tennis court, and a lot of other nifty stuff yah might enjoy." Rogue found she liked the exercise rooms a lot, which she used to help vent her anxiety or frustration then she felt it, which apparently was more often than she wanted to admit. If Simon had a lot of pent up energy in him, which she wouldn't be surprised at given the nature of his powers, he might be putting those things to good use.

Scott only laughed at Simon. "Trust me dude," said Scott, "You've seen nothing yet." Scott was looking forward to seeing how Simon would react to the abilities of the Danger Room, which was probably the most advanced piece of equipment in the mansion, except of course for Cerebro. He was really wondering how Simon would react to seeing that machine. If Simon fainted from sheer overwhelming awe, he wouldn't have been surprised.

Simon gave Scott a look. "Why do I have the feeling that's an understatement."

"Scott likes to give new recruits a little cautious warning of what's to come," said Jean, "

"Professor Xavier has a lot of sources that allow him to get his hands on all the stuff we use here at the institute," said Scott, "He's always on the look out for things that could improve our systems and machines. That cloaking device you saw on the Blackbird was the latest upgrade he gave the Blackbird. He thinks of something that will improve things, he does it right away."

"I'm not even gonna ask," said Simon. Scott was about to ask what he wasn't going to ask about, but thought better of it.

Finally, they arrived at a door on the side of the hall. Scott pointed to it. "Here we are," he said, "This will be your room, Simon." He opened the door and led the group inside.

The three X-Men looked as a look of surprise came over Simon's face as he saw his new living quarters. Simon was totally not expecting to have a room like this one. The room was much larger than he anticipated, over twice as large as his old room back home. The bed was nice and large and had a quilt and blanket that looked as comfy as soft silk to the touch. There was even a large dresser for cloths with a large mirror he could use to tidy himself up in the morning after getting out of bed all scruffy and sleep-ruffled. There was even a large stereo and speakers.

"Well, What do you think?" asked Scott, "You like it?" He smiled at Simon's amazed face. It was almost humorous. Jean and Rogue were smiling too.

"This-is cool!" Simon said, "I was expect to get a fairly decent room here, but not this." He looked all around the room, taking in every nook, every cranny, every detail, every single line, feature, and point. "Man, this makes my old room look like a hotel suite."

"I see you like it," said Jean, still smiling.

"Oh, yeah," Simon agreed. He went to the window and opened it to get a glimpse of the outside view. The view provided him a fantastic sight of Bayville, seeing the tallest buildings towering over the tops of the trees of the forest that surrounded the mansion. Everything was so clear it was hard to describe. But what was more, it even had a balcony, which was the last thing in the world Simon expected to find out here. He could definitely get used to this.

"You know," said Simon as he walked back to where he had placed his bags near the foot of his bed, "I think I'm going to like it here."

That only got Scott, Jean, and Rogue to feel more at ease around him. Simon was really showing there was more to his personality that one-sided gruffness.

"I should hope so," said Scott.

Simon opened one of his bags and took out what Rogue saw was a picture frame on a stand. Since the back was facing her, she couldn't quite see who was in it. But Simon was looking at whom it presented. He was looking at it deeply, as if he felt a deep connection to it. After staring at the photo in the picture, he went to his dresser and placed it on it. Once that was done, he started to empty his bags onto this bed so that he could sort things out and put them away.

As Jean and Scott watched Simon sort a few things out, Rogue went to the dresser, curious as to whom the picture was of. She wasn't sure if Simon minded, but she was curious enough to do it.

She carefully picked up the silver frame to see the photo. What she saw made her narrow her eyes in confusion. There were to people in the photograph. One was Simon, wearing a midnight dress jacket over what looked like a golden dress shirt with a golden silk tie. He looked slightly younger than he did now and he was smiling brightly, his eyes filled with happiness. Rogue was a little confused, for in the time since meeting Simon she hadn't seen his eyes become filled with any sort of emotion like that.

But the part about the photo that really got Rogue's attention was that there was a girl in the picture with Simon, wearing a somewhat revealing dress of bright pink material with spaghetti straps over her shoulders. But more attention getting still was that the girl looked a lot like Jean, beautiful, clear-skinned, with long bright red hair falling past her shoulders. But unlike Jean, her eyes were bright blue instead of green. She was also smiling brightly, with love and admiration.

Lines slashed themselves in Rogue's brow as she stared at the photograph. Sudden images of Jean came flaring through her mind once more, ones she preferred to forget, but always had them with her not matter how hard she tried to forget them. Jean was popular, beautiful, well liked, athletic, and also admired by others. Everything Rogue wasn't. In times past, Rogue had been somewhat hurt seeing Scott with Jean, kissing, hugging, doing things she herself could never do thanks to her "gift." Rogue would never say it out loud, but she was jealous of Jean's social status.

A slight ache came to Rogue's heart as she thought of those times, one of them being mere hours ago at the pool party. Seeing Simon with this unknown girl sort seemed like a mockery that was taunting her. It was unjustified, but it was there nonetheless.

Two shadows came over Rogue. She looked over he shoulders to see Scott and Jean had joined her, and were looking at Simon and the unknown girl's faces.

"Who's that?" asked Scott quietly.

"Ah don't know," said Rogue, feeling a little uptight for some unjustified reason. She handed to picture to Scott.

Scott looked at the photograph for a few moments. "Simon, who's this?" he asked, turning to face the blond-haired boy.

Hearing Scott ask him a question, Simon looked up from putting a portable laptop computer on his bedside table. He looked at Scott with confusion for a second, then saw the picture in Scott's hand. He felt a lump in his throat develop as the girl there caught his gaze, as if often did when he looked at it. Simon asked himself for the seventh time that night on why he had brought that with him. Honestly, he wasn't sure why. Maybe he should have left it behind.

The others couldn't help but notice Simon swallow hard. His eyes grew dim. He let out a breath before he talked. "Her name's Kimberly Bloom," he said quietly.

"Is she a friend of yours?" asked Jean.

Simon shook his head. "She's my girlfriend. Well… she used to be."

Surprise washed over the faces of the three X-Men as they looked at Simon. "'Used to be?'" asked Scott, not liking the way that sounded.

"We---broke up two years ago," said Simon, his voice still soft, as if it hurt to speak, "We…didn't part on the best of terms."

"Oh," said Scott, "I'm sorry to hear that."

Simon said nothing.

"What went wrong?" asked Jean.

Simon raised his eyes to Jean's, green met green with gaze. "I-I'd rather not talk about it," he said, a small spark of guilt and hurt in his voice. However, his eyes were hard, as if he was trying to discourage them from continuing.

Jean felt Simon's emotions. They were strong too. Even though Jean's telepathy was not as powerful as Xavier's it was still pretty strong. If a person had strong enough feelings, those were projected, just like thoughts that were thought about to "loudly." Jean didn't like the feel of the emotions she sensed in Simon. She immediately knew it wouldn't be wise to further the conversation. Scott did to, for he knew what it was like to not want to discuss painful issues. But still, he was curious as to why Simon was acting like this.

Rogue couldn't help but notice Simon was stiff in the posture. She took that as a sign that he hated having this conversation, like she didn't enjoy speaking about herself in terms of her powers. She took that cue and snatched the picture from Scott's hand, placing it back on the dresser. "Weh understand," she said, trying to help Simon regain his previous mood.

Simon only nodded.

Seeing Simon react that way made it clear to all three of them he didn't want to talk about it. With that, they dropped it right then and there, almost like a collective mental decision.

After a few awkward moments, Scott tried to talk a gain on a different subject. "Well, Simon, do you want to head down and meet up with the rest of the students?" he asked.

Simon considered that for a moment and didn't respond right away. For a few seconds he was silent, as if he was thinking. Then he said, "I'd like to tidy myself up quickly first," he said, "Make myself presentable."

Rogue was a little confused by that, for he looked presentable enough. Hell, even the scrap he got from Evan's little act was almost invisible, indication that maybe Evan's harpoon, as sharp as it was, had only lightly scraped the skin. Otherwise, he looked in tiptop shape. But she could understand it.

"No problem," said Jean, "Once your ready to meet up, we'll see you down there."

Simon nodded. "Alright."

Scott, Jean, and Rogue then headed for the door so that they could make their way down to the living room where everyone was waiting to meet their new recruit. But just as they were about to leave, Simon's voice stopped them.

"Uh, guys," he said suddenly.

The three X-Men turned around, wondering what Simon could have to say. "Yeah?" asked Scott.

Simon stood there with a look of careful composure on his face, like he was readying himself to say something he wasn't really ecstatic to say. The look in his eyes revealed genuine sincerity. "I-I just wanted to say…I'm sorry for throwing all those blasts at you back at the docks. I freaked when you "lifted" me and just lost control. I didn't really mean to go all out blaster on you."

Scott and the others were a little caught off guard by Simon's apology for using his powers on them. Given Simon's attitude, they were not expecting that sort of thing at all from him. They didn't know of many mutants who would do something like this. Evan Daniels, Mr. Calcium Cannon Cowboy, sure wouldn't. It was also fairly certain that Bobby Drake or Ray Crisp wouldn't be so anxious to expressed regret for using powers. Even Tabitha herself might not show a lot of thought on that issue. All the same, Scott felt relieved and better from Simon's words, as did Rogue and Jean.

Scott smiled at his new teammate. "Yeah," he said gently, "Don't do that again. I can understand that you got freaked. But we all make mistakes. That's one reason why we're here. To learn to avoid making them."

Simon seemed to brighten at that. "Thanks. I just felt a little bad about sending those beams your way," Simon told them, "I just lost my control."

Jean only smiled at Simon as well. "Simon, don't feel uptight. We understand, so no hard feelings."

The words seemed to make Simon relax more. "Thank you," he said carefully, "Anyway, those were some pretty wicked red beams you had there, Scott." He smiled a little on that last sentence.

Both of Scott's eyebrows arched at that comment. He wasn't expecting that line either. Simon was definitely deeper than once thought of. Scott was starting to wonder why he even thought Simon might be a little like Duncan Matthews. He wasn't like that football player at all. Scott now felt like he and Simon just might get along.

The young deputy leader then let out a small laugh. "Thanks, Man," he said, "But you had some pretty bad blue beams that could give mine a run for their money."

"Want a rematch some time soon?" asked Simon with a teasing smirk, "After I get a little practice?"

Scott and Jean just burst out laughing at that. Even Rogue herself couldn't stop her smile from forming. "Maybe," said Scott, bringing a slight smile from Simon. "But I'll probably beat you again easily with no problems," he added quickly, a sly smile forming on his face as he spoke. Simon's green eyes widened at that. He was so not expecting Scott to say that. Rogue smirked and Jean just laughed at that.

"Is that a promise, Four-Eyes?" asked Simon, suddenly smiling threateningly at other boy, "You know that they say 'an eye for an eye.' Or in your case and mine, 'an eye blast for an eye blast.'"

"Oh, you got something big in that mind of yours, Energizer?" Scott shot back with his own name for Simon, his confident tone and smile growing more and more obvious, "Because I've got something even bigger."

Jean decided she just had to intervene before Scott "Cyclops" Summers and Simon "Raiden" Valley went into an all out verbal match to try and outdo the other, as males of all ages were known to do. Even though she would have much preferred them doing that sort of match rather than playing _knock-your-opponent-down_ with optic blasts, she really didn't feel up to any sparing between the two teenage mutants. "Will you two geniuses just stop and think for a second?" she barged in, getting her laughter under control, "You'll be trying to outdo one another all night."

Scott and Simon both looked at the redhead and sighed. "Fine," they both said at the exact same time. That caused them both to look back at one another and laugh. Rogue just had to shake her head and roll her eyes. _Men!_

"Well, Simon, we'll see you down stairs in a minute?" asked Scott after he regained his stance.

"Sure," Simon replied, "I'll see you real quick."

Rogue left the room, followed by Jean and Scott walking hand-in-hand, leaving Simon alone.

* * *

A lot of things went through Rogue's mind as she walked towards the living room with Scott and Jean and a lot of them were hard for her to even understand. Rogue thought about it a good hard way in order to understand things, just letting her thoughts overwhelm all other signals from the outside, except of course for her senses so she would know where she was going.

It had been quite a night, and maybe Rogue was having trouble deciding what she was thinking because she was tired. Honestly, she wouldn't have been surprised if Scott, Jean, Kurt, or even Logan was tired after the things that had happened. AS for their latest recruit, he was either tired, or simply packed to the brim with energy over excitement of his new surroundings.

Rogue had wondered if Simon ever had trouble sleeping at night because he was too energetic to settle down. Of course, the theory that was based on was that he powers acted like chemical stimulants to his system. However, Rogue had noticed that Simon didn't seem comfortable talking about powers, not his, not Scott's, not the Professor's, or anyone's. In fact, he hadn't seemed comfortable even knowing that powers existed, even if his own flesh and blood that contained the power-producing X-Gene was proof that never left his side, always proving powers were in the world and he had some of his own.

Powers, powers. Rogue suddenly was confused why she was thinking on the one subject so much. She hardly thought much about powers, if she could avoid it. She knew already that she wasn't on some power craze, but something was bugging her anyway. The only question was what.

The more Rogue thought about it, she finally came to a realization. And it was one she was not looking forward to. It was that sooner or later, hopefully later, the new member would ask or find out or be told about her own powers. If there was anything about her powers that she hated more other than its not allowing her to touch another human being it was the reactions she got from others who heard about it. She remembered the various reactions she got from people when the heard about her abilities. It followed a pattern that was now expected in every case. There would be a moment of silence, then looks of emotion on the face. Looks of pity or sympathy. Those were what she truly hated. Sometimes a phrase would accompany that reaction, such as "I'm sorry," or "That's freaky," or maybe even "Ouch." Rogue was getting frustrated with hearing those things over and over again. The hatred she had of the limitations her powers cursed her with seemed to grow with every "I'm sorry" and look of pity she got. And now, she was realizing that Simon was going to give her one. Another one. Just another in a long list. Could she handle it? Probably, but she didn't want to. She was robbed of something that so many people took for granted. That just proved to the world that it never knew what it had until it was lost.

She wasn't looking forward to when Simon found out. She just hoped that it could be put off for as long as possible.

That hope had just about been pushed away when the three X-Men reached the living room where everyone was waiting. The New Mutants, just as the three of them had predicted were all wide-awake and lively. Being so young, it was only logical to suspect that they would be up for as late as possible. Kids will be kids!

Beast, Wolverine, and Storm were there as well, keeping close watch over the peppy young mutants to make sure they were not causing too much damage to the house with their powers, lest they use them for a little prank.

"Oh hey, there you are Rogue," said Kitty, noticing her roommate approaching where she sat along with Tabitha, Amara, and the rest of the girls at the institute, "Where were you just now?"

Rogue shrugged, "We were just helping him get settled into his new room," said Rogue.

"Hey, Rogue!" Tabitha, the blonde fun-loving wild girl of the institute, leaped into the conversation, like she known to do, "What's all this about?"

"I was hoping to know that myself," said Jubilee, "It's not everyday the Professor has us gather at this time of night."

Unknown to Jubilee, Beast heard her. "The Professor has good reasons for the things he does, Jubilation," he said, "But I think you'll like this gathering."

"Yeah, what's so great about a gathering?" asked Ray, was seated near his buddies, Sam, Bobby, Roberto, and Jamie, "I mean, what's in a gathering?" Ray pretty much had a habit of wanting to know what was going on with things when they were going on. With gatherings like this, he was not fond of them, as most of the other New Mutants were.

"We've got a new member. He's coming down here to meet the rest of us," said Scott, trying to take on his leader role by making everyone feel as at home as possible.

Tabitha's eyes lit up at that. Amara, Jubilee, and Rahne merely looked interested. "A new guy?" she asked in her happy cool manner, "Is he cute?"

Rogue rolled her eyes at that comment. "You always hope that new guys have looks Tabitha," said Kitty, "Why don't you just give that a break."

"I don't know," said Jubilee, "I sure wouldn't mind having another guy around."

"What's he like?" asked Amara.

"Well," said Rogue, "He's pretty mysterious one since weh don't know much about em. But he seems alright. Though, he can beh a little hotheaded."

Bobby's ears perked at the mention of that. Then he smiled, "That sounds like you, Rogue," he said, chuckling.

Rogue snapped her head to look at Bobby. "Don't go there, Ice Cube," she said warningly.

Bobby started all out laughing as Rogue felt her cheeks grow hot. Ray and Roberto started chuckling as well.

"Rogue, Yuir face is getting red, lass!" said Rahne, giggling at Rogue's condition. Amara started giggling as well, as teasing smile on her tan skinned face.

"I hate to say this, Rogue," said Kitty, a smile on her race, "But they're right. That IS kinda like you."

"Don't push it, Kitty," said Rogue, even though she felt herself on the verge of laughing. She was about to say something when Sam beat her to it.

"So what's this new guy's powers?" asked Sam.

"I'll tell you right off ze bat," said Kurt, "He'z got extreme powers."

Ray and Bobby seemed interested in Kurt's remark. "Extreme? As in how?" asked Bobby.

"Well," said Jean, standing next to Scott as he watched over the younger mutants, "He can shoot energy of all sorts from his hands and eyes."

"You mean, he has optic blasts like Scott?" asked Jamie.

"Yeah, but he can shoot energy from his hands too," said Scott.

"He doesn't have electricity in that does he?" asked Ray. When Scott nodded, Ray puffed out his chest. "Ha, I could outdo him in that apartment any day."

"Yeah you wish," said Evan, "This dude has bolts way more extreme than yours."

"Since when?" asked Ray.

"Trust meh," said Rogue, "he does."

Bobby and Roberto started to snicker at Ray. "Well, I guess your status as our number one source of charges is out," said Roberto.

"You may want to move over, Ray," said Bobby, smirking.

"I don't do that!" said Ray defensively, "Maybe I'll challenge him to a little duel to see whose got the bigger bolts." Kitty and Rogue both groaned. Ray could be so competitive sometimes.

"What else can he do?" asked Amara.

"Well," said Kitty, "he can like make his energy do all sorts of effects. He can make shatter something. Or to act like a lightning bolt. Or to make something explode happens. And then there was another case where he made it act like heat and melt solid stone."

Amara's deep brown eyes looked a little surprised at that, and intrigued as well. She wasn't sure about this new guy, but it sounded like maybe they would have someone on the team with powers similar to hers.

"Hey, Amara," said Jubilee, "Maybe if this guy can turn his entire body into heat, maybe the two of you could do a little Nova Roman dance, mutant heat style!" She gave her friend a small wink.

"Gee," said Amara, feeling a little embarrassed, "I don't know about that." Amara, being a princess from a kingdom outside the rest of the world, was still adjusting to life here. And that included, the teenage cool suggestions the other girls made for her. She was often unprepared for them.

"I think that's a great idea!" exclaimed Tabitha, a big smile on her face, "A hot girl with a hot guy! Doin' the Mutant Fire Tango!"

"Tabitha!" gasped Amara.

"Oh come on, girl. You gotta live a little!"

"Not to worry," said Bobby, "This guy gets too hot for us, I'll cool him off!" To make his point he made his fist into ice.

"Whoa," said Scott suddenly, "Lets not rush the pranks on this guy, okay."

Bobby sighed and nodded. Leave to Scott to take the fun out of everything.

"Attention everyone," Xavier's voice suddenly reached everyone's ears "I would like to introduce you all to our new student." The students turned to see Xavier wheel himself into the room, and immediately everyone's attention rested on the tall, blond boy with the penetrating green eyes walking in beside him, whom none of the new mutants had seen before.

Many faces were before Simon, some of the X-Men he had meet earlier that night, along with many faces that were new to him. Of all the faces he noticed, the one that really got his attention the most was that of a big, blue, furry man who had big fangs, feet that were like those of a tree-climbing primate, and arms that were longer than his legs, much like that of a gorilla. In fact, he even supported himself on his knuckles, like a gorilla did when it walked around. Having hear of Hank McCoy from the other X-Men on the way here from Washington, as well as hearing about his appearance and having seen Kurt in his natural form already, Simon was able to keep his surprise in check, even though he was amazed at the sight of Beast.

"This," Xavier told everybody, motioning to Simon, "is Simon Valley, from Moonriver Falls, Washington. He's agreed to enroll here at the institute." A series of cheers came from several people, mostly the New Mutants. Even Kitty and Kurt gave a little applause as well.

"So," said Xavier, after the small applause had quieted down, "For those of you whom Simon hasn't met yet, why not introduce yourselves."

With that, the New Mutants started to introduce themselves. One by one, they said hello to Simon personally and gave him their name. It finally ended with Hank, who gave him not only his human name, but also his codename as well saying "For obvious reasons." That got several people to laugh at that.

Once that was done, Simon was invited to tell them a little about himself. Simon had been center stage fro over four times in one night now. Yet, this time, it seemed easier than last. Maybe doing it over and over again was making it easier. He told them a little on his life, saying of how he was from Washington, had moved over three times in the past seven years due to the nature of his parents' careers, and also that he enjoyed martial arts and long walks at night for exercise.

Once Simon was finished, one of the new mutants, Tabitha, spoke up. "So, Simon," she said in her usual carefree voice, "Why not give us a little demo of powers?"

Simon's eyebrows shot to his forehead, as did Scott and Jean's. "Um, sorry," replied Simon in an apologetic tone, "but that would make a mess of things." That seemed to get Tabitha to accept it pretty fast but the others didn't.

"Come on," said Bobby, "Show us a beam or something. It won't hurt."

Logan and Storm were shaking their heads. Logan had guessed that the new mutants might want to see what Simon could do. Logan however had seen what he could do and he agreed with Simon entirely. It WOULD make a mess of things.

"Look, Bobby," said Jean, "Simon's powers are like Scott's. They're not exactly the 'indoor-friendly' type."

"You should listen to Jean," agreed Simon, "She's right."

"Well surely there's something that's not too destructive you can show us," said Jubilee, "Maybe a little change or something."

As this was going on, Kitty was thinking on what Simon could do to show the new recruits an example of his powers. She thought of his making a blade out of himself, which wouldn't hurt anything unless he tried to cut something with it. But then, another idea struck her. They had seen Simon use his energy morphing powers, but the professor had said he also had a secondary mutation that allowed him to surround himself with a living exoskeleton of armor. She hadn't seen that, and neither had any of the others. She had been curious as to what he looked like in his armor, and now seemed like the perfect time, when he could show everyone at once. And besides, it wouldn't hurt anything.

"Hey, Simon," said Kitty in an excited tone.

Simon looked at the valley girl. "Yes?"

"How about you show us your armor? We never got to see what that looked like."

Evan's face got a similar look. "Yeah man, I was wondering what that's like."

"You got armor?" asked Jamie, surprised by that statement, "Cool! Let us see it!"

"Ja," added Kurt, "love zhat idea!"

Despite of all the excited voices, Simon suddenly looked nervous. His eyes were slightly wide, and his mouth slightly open. "Uh-well," he said in a hesitant voice, "I-I don't know."

Ray didn't see to like his tone. He spoke up then. "Come on, Man! What's wrong with a little suit of protection?"

"Well," Simon explained, "It's just that I look kind of-of--," he paused for a moment, trying to think of the right word to use, "freaky when I'm armored up." However, that only seemed strengthen the other mutants' curiosity.

"Sounds cool," said Bobby, as impatient as ever, "I wouldn't mind seeing that."

"Yeah," added Jubilee, "I mean, take a look at Kurt. He's looks a little out of the ordinary." She then quickly turned to Kurt, hoping that he wasn't too offended by that. "No offense intended," she said quickly to him.

Kurt only smiled. "None taken," he said gently, to the Asian girl. Jubilee winked at him to say 'you're welcome.'

"No, trust me," said Simon, holding out his hand, "Kurt doesn't look half as weird as I do when I'm armored." But as before, that only made the students ever more eager to see him armored up. Simon was beginning to guess that nothing he did would stop the New Mutants from asking him until he finally showed them.

"Sounds cool," said Jamie.

"Come on," pouted Tabitha, making a little pouty face that she hoped would convince Simon, "We're tough. We can handle it."

"So," said Kitty, "Let's see it. We all want to. And I'm sure the professor wouldn't mind." At that last sentence, she looked over to Xavier. "Would you, Professor?"

Xavier was thinking on that. It seemed alright to him. After all, it sounded like Simon wouldn't hurt anything with that power. He was, however a little uncertain with supporting the New Mutants when Simon himself was not too keen on showing them. It was Simon's choice. He really shouldn't force Simon to do that if he really didn't feel like it. Xavier sure wasn't up to another long session of begging from the New Mutants. He'd been through that before, and it had been one headache after another. Rising kids could give a person a lot of head hurt, but rasing kids with mutant powers made it even worse. Still, he felt that he needed to say that they needed to respect Simon's wishes and let him be. But before he could speak, Simon spoke up again, with a sigh in his voice.

"Okay, you win," he surrendered to their requests, "I'll show you."

"Great!" Tabitha and Amara did a high-five and Bobby and Ray grinned at each other. Jamie on the other hand was shaking with excitement to see this. And so was Kitty.

"You may want to stand back, Professor," Simon warned, "My transformation is pretty extreme."

"I understand," said Xavier, and wheeled himself away several feet.

Everyone was now looking at Simon, eagerly awaiting to see him in his armored state. A select few were nervous, not knowing what to expect. But their excitement overshadowed it tremendously. Simon looked over the sea of eyes staring at him, and took a deep breath. "Here goes," he said.

No sooner that Simon said that, the transformation began. Simon's eyes turned cobalt blue, then glowed and grew featureless. Then the blue energy spread like a living blanket from his eyes over his face, then it covered his entire head. But even then, the flashing energy kept going. It enveloped his shoulders, arms, hands, torso, legs. Within the span of only one or two seconds, Simon's entire body had turned into living energy, bearing only the most superficial features of a humanoid figure. Then, as everybody watched, a small cloud of energy appeared at Simon's feet, and then rose over his feet to his legs, going higher and higher like a puff of glowing blue smoke. Once it reached Simon's head, it vanished. In less than three seconds, the change was complete and Simon stood there in his armored state . And the sight was more than enough to make everyone's eyes widen.

The armor was a glassy black carapace, composed of a keratin/chitin polymer interlaced with organic nanofibers of carbon and silicon. It covered every part of his body, even his head, face, hands, and feet, like a one-piece, all-body, form-fitting jumpsuit. Though mostly black, the armor had what looked embossed patches of glowing blue crystal on it. There was a small blue patch on each forearm, triceps, outer thigh and calf, with a sumac leaf-shaped one over each pectoral, an egg-shaped one over his solar plexus, and two oval ones with a hollow in the center were on the upper back sides of his head. But perhaps the most striking part was his face. In this form, he had no hair, ears, or nose. His eyes were no longer green, but bright blue with no visible irises or pupils, and were twice their former size and shaped slightly different. Originating from the forehead was a pointed, horn-like crest that curved over the top of Simon's armored skull, like that of a Parasaurolophis duckbill dinosaur. His lipless mouth was lined with jagged chrome-colored fangs that extended from the edges of his jaws like steel spines. All the teeth were the same length, except for the canine teeth, which were twice as long as the others.

Simon stood before them in all his armored glory, not looking human in the slightest. The light from the overhead lamps made his exoskeleton gleam like polished obsidian armor. Everyone was finding it hard to believe that they were actually looking at a human being.

"Well, there you go," Simon spoke out in a deeper, slightly metallic voice. As he spoke, the X-Men could see the inside of his fang-rimmed mouth, and the interior was flaring blue and glowing, just like his eyes.

For a few minutes, no one spoke. Then finally, Rogue managed, "Whoa!"

"You took the words right out of my mouth," Scott commented.

"Vhoa is right!" said Kurt softly, his eyes wide with surprise.

It was then that other started to regain their voices, even though they were still struck by Simon's radical change. They were expecting Simon to change in a noticeable way, but this was more drastic than they had imagined. They weren't surprised that Simon was able to transform himself. Lots of mutants could do that. It was just they were not expecting a change like this. Simon had not been exaggerating when he said that when he was armored, he looked a lot weirder than Kurt did.

"DUDE!" Jamie suddenly shouted, "THAT WAS TOTALLY WICKED!"

Even Logan seemed a little surprised by Simon's change. "Quite a change you got there kid," he said, shaking his head.

Xavier could see why Simon had been hesitant to show everyone this power. He made a mental note to tell Simon later to never use that power in view of the non-mutant public.

Simon turned his gaze to Scott. As earlier that night, he saw everyone in the same golden glow as the X-Men had appeared to him. Everyone was glowing gold. The question as to why that was came to his mind, but he figured now was not the best time to ask about it. There would be plenty of time later on.

"That would be a great costume for Halloween!" remarked Bobby, "You'd scare the pants off of everyone who saw you! You look like some sort of alien cyborg terminator!" He started laughing at that. Sam and Ray started laughing too.

"Now why would I use this on Halloween?" asked Simon, looking at them with his big eyes. There was a tone of disproval in his voice.

Scott was about to tell Bobby that that wasn't funny when Xavier stepped in again. "Alright everyone, that's enough," he said. He looked to Simon's armored form. "You can shut your power off now, Simon."

"Gladly," answered Simon. His armored epidermis then retracted down his body, leaving his energy body underneath exposed. Then the energy retracted to his eyes, and then vanished once all of it reached there. Simon was looking human again. Once more, the change was so drastic it was hard to take it in.

"Okay everyone. I think it's time we all head for bed. Simon has had a long journey and I believe he would like some time to rest. You can all see him again in the morning."

"You got that right professor," said Simon, "I'm beat."

Scott let out a yawn as well. "That sound good to me too," he added.

Tabitha looked at Simon as if he were crazy. "Oh come on, Simon," she protested, "How in the world could an energy lord like you need sleep."

Simon only smiled and shook his head. "Sorry, Tabitha, but even the master of energy needs to recharge his batteries."

Pleased with how well the introduction had gone, everyone then headed off to their rooms to turn in for the night.

* * *

The presence knew he was coming. It could sense him. His thoughts, his life. He was coming closer. It merely sat and waited. No one would see it. No one knew it was here. It was as good as not even being there to those who dwelled in the mansion.

It watched and waited, and then, just like it had felt, the doorway of the room it was looking into opened. The new X-Man, Raiden as they called him, came into the room, looking groggy and tired. It watched carefully, feeling totally calm, as Raiden had no idea it was here, watching him.

Raiden took off his black turtleneck and stood in shorts and a black tank top. After stretching himself out, he pulled himself into bed and turned off the light, leaving the room dark as the night outside.

But of course, the entity's evil was darker than even the pitch blackest night. It would be so easy to take the revenge on the one person here whom the entity hated. So easy, so tempting. But yet, it couldn't. Not just yet. It would spoil the plan that was being put in motion tonight. In addition, if it attacked that hated rival now, it wouldn't have the defeat on him that the presence so desperately craved. It wanted to see the shock, the anger, the fear in its prey's eyes. It would need to wait in order to get that chance. And of course, it wanted to look into Xavier's eyes to see the fear and astonishment there before it pushed Xavier's consciousness into the cold, endless, shapeless void of the Astral Plane. But now there was nothing else to do other than rejoin its other part

With that thought in mind, the invisible psychic form of the Shadow King's essence moved away from the window and flew off.

* * *

He could see the mansion, through the trees. And feel it as well. Feel the thoughts inside, the emotions, the bond he had formed with a few students there to do his stealing. He had to be careful to conceal his power, lest the two psychics of the X-Men learn he was here.

Mesmero heard a slight groan next to him, coming from the stone-still body of the Shadow King. Mesmero looked at his demonic companion, and realized his spirit was returning to his body. The red glow of the Shadow King's eyes returned, and he let out a long breath of air that formed a slight fog in the cool atmosphere of the forest. The Shadow King took a few moments to gather his bearings, then looked at his tattooed partner.

"Is he here?" asked Mesmero in a calm and indifferent voice.

"Yes," answered Shadow King, "Their predictions of those calculations were more accurate than I predicted."

"I must admit I had my own doubts on this," said Mesmero, "This was not my first choice option to determine the right course of action. But it is affective nonetheless."

The Shadow King and Mesmero looked back to the Xavier mansion, red hatred burning in their eyes. Of the two, Shadow King had the more powerful anger. And of course, Mesmero knew why. He himself didn't have such hatred for Xavier, for he wasn't force to live out ten years in the Astral Plane.

"I would have been so easy to simply take him by surprise and finish him," said Shadow King, balling up one of his blue, scaly, clawed hands into a dragonish fist.

"Patience, my friend," Mesmero tried to warn him of their position, "We cannot attack them. It will put our true plans to ruin. Besides, the fruits of our victory will taste the sweetest when we harvest them at just the right time."

The Shadow King looked at his tattooed, telepathic ally. He lowered his fist. "You are right," he said in his dark voice, "We must tell them that now all the pieces of the puzzle are in one spot."

"Yes," Mesmero agreed, "Now that all the pieces of the puzzles are in the same location, all that is required is to put them together. They will be pleased to know that their predictions of time were accurate."

The Shadow King laughed a dry cold laugh that matched his hellish face. "Indeed."

* * *

**Well, folks, there you have it! Stay tuned for later chapters to find out more on what lies ahead! I hope this chapter helped make the story more complex that it seemed before because that was my intention. Also, I'm going to put this fic on hold for a little bit after this chapter so I can do an update for my other fic. I'd like to keep it balanced and I'll try to not keep you waiting too long. And, just in case you forgot, REVIEW and tell me what you think? Do you like this? Do you hate this? Why? I must know! I love comments on my work!**


	12. Sinister and Shadow Hunters

HI there fellow readers. Here is the next chapter. Here I will bring yet another team, yes that's right, ANOTHER team, into my story. And it won't be the last one either! In addition, I will include some other characters that were not in the Evolution Series. So get ready for some major additions and some major changes in characters from the X-Men Evolution universe, as well as those from the main marvel universe! I know I'm brining in a lot of characters other than my OC, but remember friends, characters are the #1 most important part of any story! Remember, this is an AU where I can do anything I want, so expect the unexpected! Also, the fic will get a little stronger here. This chapter will have some strong language, which will be in fair amount later on in the fic as well. I hope you don't mind it too much.

**AN: As you may have noticed before, I have changed my OC's codename to Raiden. For those of you still wondering on that, just look at the last chapter where he got it. This name was suggested to me by Agent-G, and I would like to give him my biggest thanks and gratitude for helping me out. I personally believe that it's a lot better than the last one I gave my character, and it was one I wouldn't have thought of myself if he hadn't suggested it. This story wouldn't be the same without all the advice and inspiration he has given me. Thank you, Agent-G!

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**Chapter 11**

**Sinister and Shadow Hunters**

DNA. The blueprint of all life. The core essence of all biological potential and evolution. So small, so mysterious, so BEAUTIFUL. That was how it looked to the man who looked closely at the screen before him. The twisted ladder, the double helix, of the strand was almost hypnotic to him. So many other people in the world would not see it like he did, for few could. Even most others like him couldn't have the hope of accomplishing what DNA could be used for. But he could do it, and so much more. He knew the human, and the mutant, genome like the back of his own hand. And only a scientist with that kind of knowledge could do what he had planned. So few others could, if such people were even alive.

The image of the DNA molecule's double helix spiraled as the computer program made it turn and spin. Symbols that represented the individual nucleotides of each base pair in each section flew across the bottom of the screen with lightning speed. It was so much information. But it was what made life life. And it was all on this infinitely small molecule.

"Soon," the man said, still immersed by what he was looking at, "soon I will have all the pieces of the puzzle that I need. And when I do, I'll be able to create the race I was so determined to engineer since the dawn of time. What fate chose for me."

Mr. Sinister's heart was filled with the lifeblood that was always circulated around his body, but now, with all his eagerness and comprehension, it was also filled with energizing adrenaline that now surged through him, and also with excitement. He'd waited for this for so long that if this wouldn't work out, he was certain that he would explode from sheer rage. Nothing could mess this up. Nothing could after all this time.

Decades of work. Not hours, days, weeks, months, or even years. Decades. Year after year of painstaking work and calculating, of matching, rewriting, fixing, planning, and so much more. It wasn't that Sinister was not satisfied with his work. In fact, right now he was more pleased with himself that he ever had been. But this only not the time when the work was completed. There was still so much to do. Only after that was done would be he feel totally satisfied.

All the generations ago in Victorian England, where he had been one of Royal Society's number one scientists. He had been a genius then. And he still was a genius, only more intelligent than before. No, not a mere genius. A super-genius. One who was never truly appreciated for his undeniably truthful theories.

Sinister's original name, Dr. Nathanial Essex, was about as widely known in Victorian England as the name Charles Darwin. But for the complete opposite reasons. Darwin, that fool, had gotten all the credit and praise. True, Darwin had made theories on the origins of species and evolution that were accurate, and correct, as modern science had proven. But yet, it was not enough. Unlike the famous Charles Darwin, the infamous Nathanial Essex had gone further, explaining the inevitable evolution of humans into a race of superhuman mutants with powers unlike anything though of before. As Essex, Sinister had seen it in the making. His own son, brought into the world by his late wife Rebecca, had shown unrecognized biological problems, yet he was not sick with any virus or bacterial infection.

It was mutation. Of the harmful kind. Mutations were of all sorts, some of the helpful kind, others of disfiguring and deadly results. That kind was responsible for so many genetic illnesses and disorders that were previously believed to be the work of Satan in the days of Nathanial Essex. Essex's son had died because the mutations had created such a strain on his body's systems and organs, genetic codes and cellular structures that they had all shattered and collapsed under the pressure. He'd tried to explain his theories, but yet, he was still shunned and hated for he brilliant man he was, even by his own wife, whom he loved more than anything else. Except of course, for science. Now he saw that he was unworthy of her. Or in better words, she was unworthy of him. She didn't see what a chance he could have given her. To be the Adam and Eve of a new race of creatures. But her fear had blinded her, as fear so often did in the weak-minded. How foolish humans could be. On the day Sinister had ceased to be Nathanial Essex and become Mr. Sinister, he saw humanity for what it was. A weak-minded species that thought, in all its arrogance, was the most highly evolved species on Earth and let ethics and totally unrealistic religious beliefs stand in the way of understanding where the true power lay. How sickening that was.

Anger started to form in Sinister's mind as he thought these things, but he quickly pushed it back down. He'd come so far ever since he had left those things behind him. Now he was better than ever, and ever so much closer to his goal. He'd met others like him along the way. Being the inhuman mutant scientist he was, not human or even entirely mutant in s certain sense, he'd seen others who, like him, were the one who knew the real ways that made the world itself tick and grow with life. Even if some of those people had to steal life to prolong their own.

Sinister pushed a button on the keyboard of the large terminal and the image of the DNA strand vanished. He then swerved around on his large, revolving chair to his large metallic desk where he had spent hour after hour going through files and records he had acquired over the years. Most especially the calculations of the timeline that he was so desperately trying to shape in order to fit his goals, and the goals of he who had employed him to begin with. Without his main employer, Sinister wouldn't have been able to do this, for the tools provided by the brilliant mastermind were far beyond what the world of present day Earth had to offer. But his founder had given him what he had always wanted, a chance to genetically engineer the perfect race of beings, the ultimate race of mutants with power or omnipotent levels and unstoppable strength. It was so great he couldn't pass it up. And of course, there had been the changes done to his own body. Sinister was no longer human at all, but a being with an altered cellular structure. In the process, he had gained telepathy and complete control over every single molecule in his body. His strength was now increased as well, and his resistance to injury, disease, and poison was of immortal levels. And he no longer aged either. That granted him what he always wanted, and needed to do this work. Technology provided by the founder as well were what allowed him to do calculate and observe the timeline. Once everything was in place, Sinister would be granted the ultimate prize.

Sinister picked up a large folder and opened it. He was about to start going through the contents when he heard the sound of the large metal doors on the far side of the room opening. He looked up, his red eyes glowing. Not from anger, but with an evil happiness. Even without using his thought powers, he knew who it was. Most of those who worked under Sinister would never dare enter his laboratory without permission, unless they had a death wish, or the desire to be used in one of his experiments. But one person was never concerned about that, for he had taken a strong liking to her and visa versa.

"Who dares enter my room?" asked Sinister in a deep, dark voice with a tease and evil chuckle. The scientist locked his fingers under his chin, his thin black lips curved in a smile that matched his name perfectly.

"My darling Sinister," came a evil, sultry Roman-accented voice belonging to a woman, "Do you not trust me? Do you not care for me? Do you mean to threaten me?" the mock concern and hurt in her voice was so mocking that Sinister actually cackled at it, not that it would hurt her feelings if he did.

A tall form emerged from the shadows behind the door. A tall, slender, beautiful woman with long raven black hair and features that told point-blank of her Roman ancestry and heritage emerged stepped into the light. Her night black eyes were hard and cold, like chips of black onyx. They held no warmth, kindness, or any sort of emotion other than evil, hatred, and malicious glee. The tight, formfitting latex tights with built in high-heeled boots, and black latex top that left her flat stomach exposed gave her shapely, elegant figure a real touch.

The woman smiled at Sinister with her vermillion red lips with an evil that matched his. "My darling, Selene," said Sinister in a gentle, yet commanding manner, grinning to show his shark-like teeth, "How courteous of you to grace my presence with your beauty."

The raven-haired woman's smile only grew. She paraded towards Sinister's desk, swaying her flaring hips in a way she knew attracted the attention of any man. Often she would do this to get a man with her so she could drink and drain that man's life force energy, replenishing her own youth and beauty with the essence as her prey was left a lifeless shell of flesh. "You do know how to make a woman feel like she has beauty on her," Selene purred, "But then again, that was always saved for me was it not?"

Gazing at the evil life-drinking sorceress made Sinister feel like all his problems were far away. Sure, he had loved his wife Rebecca, but with Selene, he was more than happy to forget about her. After all, Selene was everything he wanted in a mate. Her beauty and elegance were awe-inspiring to any red-blooded male. Her mastery of magic and dark power as well as her unparalleled knowledge of the occult, mysticism, and ceremonies were the perfect thing to go along with his brilliance in genetics and robotics.

Science with magic was an impossible combination to beat. But perhaps the most attractive part of all was her ruthless and evil nature. Selene, as Sinister knew was 100 evil with no good in her at all. Morality, ethics, justice, peace, prosperity, and all other words and concepts similar had no meaning to her whatsoever. For her, the end always justified the means, regardless of what that end was. Maintaining her youth and beauty justified killing others. Trying to reach a goal of importance to her justified murdering those who got in her way in cold blood. And the reason why Sinister loved those qualities about her so much is that it was exactly the same way he was. Exactly the same way.

And of course, being both immortal, they literally had all the time in the world to be as evilly romantic as they wanted to. As Sinister looked at her, sitting there in a ready-to-strike position, in her tight latex garments, evil eyes and cruel smile, and blood red lips framing a mouth filled with perfect white teeth, she looked as sleek, as dangerous, and as sinister as a black viper. And when one added her powers of the dark forces of magic and heartless will, she seemed more venomous than even the most poisonous serpent. But that only made her more attractive to Sinister.

"Sinister, darling," Selene smiled at him with a viper kiss on her lips, "You have been so immersed in your work, I was beginning to think that you were becoming a victim of your own experiments."

Sinister started laughing at that. "Become a guinea pig in my own laboratory?" he asked, "A scientist never lets his experiments control him. He always controls his experiments. I'm certain I've proven that to you by now?"

"More of less, give or take," Selene replied. Selene sat down on the edge of Sinister's large desk, crossing her legs to give them a sexy look and teasingly placed her black-gloved hand over Sinister's, which had reached out to touch her. Selene loved toying with men using her beauty to get them away form other people so she could simply drain their lives dry. Being beautiful and powerful, as well as evil and bloodthirsty was something she always wanted to be. Sinister, the current man of her affections was practically the only man in the world she wouldn't drain if she got the chance. As a centuries old sorceress, Selene had sometimes wondered if she'd ever find a man to settle down with, but every time it had seemed impossible. If Selene had wanted a man, he would have to be every bit as dark, deadly, dangerous, evil, and merciless as herself. But, chance had smiled down on her, as well as circumstance. Sinister was her perfect mate. They were like the two deadly vipers of evil meant to give birth the next generation's evil race of beings. And if this major plan of their employer went as it should, they would be the new Adam and Eve of a whole new world, filled with chaos and evil. A most delightful thought.

"I was hoping you would come by," said Sinister, gazing lovingly at Selene, "Our little observers should be arriving back soon to give me the report on the calculation of the timeline I made several months ago. If everything is as I formulated, then it will be a good omen. With that, we can then move forward with our plans."

The words made Selene smile with wicked joy. "Well, if you're pleased, I am too. I'm getting mighty tired of simply waiting for the right moment to strike."

Sinister climbed out of his chair and walked over to his love interest so that he was face-to-face with her. "Believe me," said Sinister, "I don't like this 'waiting' any more than you do. But unfortunately, my calculations and measurements of the timeline, and the level of interference we've been inducing to it over the years simply have limits to ho much we can speed them up. Any more and events would be dramatically altered. That would result in less than optimal conditions for all the pieces to be in place, and not to mention, the state the pieces would be in."

A gloved hand reached out to caress Sinister's paper white face in a lover's touch. Sinister didn't mind Selene's touching him. Normally, he would have knocked whoever did that to him without his permission with one of the energy bolts he could fire from his hands. But with Selene, he didn't mind it at all.

"Well," said the sorceress, "I for one, am not too concerned with the waiting. It's those shit-brained mercenary fools that you hired and molded to benefit from. Frankly, I don't understand it why you would surround yourself with such lower forms of life.

"Honestly," said Sinister, "I think that few on this planet are more arrogant, foolish, and not to mention, impudent, as they are. But that really doesn't matter. After all, they're simply assets, Selene, expendable assets that have their usefulness, to one degree or another. Good assets are so hard to find these days, so I have to use what resources I have at my disposal."

"I can understand that," said Selene, continuing to stroke Sinister's cheek with her hand, "Its such a shameful condition that ones like you and me must live life in this world where all but a select couple of individuals have what it takes to tap into where the real power is."

"I now remember why I find you so enchanting," said the scientist, "You're above money and politics, and of course, you're like me."

Selene only grinned like a wolf ready to rip apart its prey. "We're the strong type. We're fit to survive and continue on. In fact, we're the future."

"Our operation's super secret founder knew that about us before we even knew it ourselves," said Sinister in great pride, "In fact, I do believe that that was the reason he employed us to begin with."

The words seemed to deflate Selene's happy mood. "Honestly, I don't like working under someone."

"I can relate," assured Sinister, "But I'm afraid that maybe if we tried to overthrow him, the results could be less than desirable." Still seeing the discouraged look in the woman's eyes, he chose to try to uplift it. "But maybe we could do some 'improvising' when the time is right."

Evil ambition twinkled in Sinister's crimson eyes, and Selene saw it clearly. "I'd like that," she smirked. With that, she leaned over seductively and kissed the thin black lips of the scientist, crushing her own against them. Sinister responded by running a hand through her long hair while stroking her face with the other. The kiss was deep and filled with dark passion, which only the two of them could appreciate.

When the two separated, they smiled at each other. "So," said Selene, "I would like to know when those two telepathic errand boys we sent out are coming back here."

"You know telepaths," said Sinister, "They're unreliable. But the others I've recruited for our little game of cat-and-mouse with our prey are even less so. So I had to go for them. But not to worry, I'm sure we'll hear from them soon enough."

"We got delayed," came a voice from one of the sides of Sinister's lab. Sinister and Selene looked over in the direction, for the voice had not come from either of them. Two cloaked figures, one tall and in black, the other shorter and in purple, were gliding towards them.

"There you are," said Sinister in greeting, "I trust your task wasn't too difficult to handle?"

"'Easy' would be an exaggeration," said Shadow King, "It was almost an insult for us to do such a simple task. It was almost trivial seeming."

"I do hope you realize how important this is, Farouk," said Selene, giving the hooded demonic figure a glare of thin-concealed distaste, "Things are not always as 'trivial' or as 'frivolous' as they appear to be."

Shadow King removed his cowl, bringing his alien, blue-scaled visage into clear sight. His dark blue lips curled over his fangs in an angry growl. "I grow tiresome of reminding you, Selene," he said coldly, "Amahl Farouk is DEAD. I'm the Shadow King now!" With those words, Shadow King slipped out of his top garment, bringing more of his new body into view to prove his point. Like his face, the rest of him was not human looking, nor did it look anything like the previous slow, inefficient, repulsively obese lump of blubber that was his original human form. The Shadow King, now naked from the waist up, had a firm, muscular physic, complete with a good six-pack and pectorals. Like his face, his skin was covered with the rough navy blue scales, while a series of short curving spines extending from his shoulders and forearms.

Selene however, was far from intimidated by the Shadow King's act. She herself had provided that body to begin with, so why even be scared? "Don't think your new flesh vessel can scare me," she hissed in a dangerous tone, "I gave it to you remember? I can take it away just as easily and leave you as mere shadow and vapor like you were before."

And it was true. One of the Shadow King's most hindering problems was that after that battle 20 years ago with Xavier on the Astral Plane years ago in Cairo, his physical body had been destroyed. As a result, with no other body to inhabit in the vast, endless emptiness of the Astral Plane and no way for him to reach out beyond to the physical world in order to inhabit another host, Amahl Farouk had been in the worst possible example of a rock and a hard place.

After being freed from the imprisonment by some bizarre unknown force, his psychic essence had discovered that Selene herself had helped free him and participate in a large scale-project. And, to assure him a place in the world, she had summoned up the body he now used as his corporal being. It had belonged to a demon, but Farouk had used his powerful telepathy to drain the demon's mind, leaving the demon's body an empty shell that could be inhabited by his spirit as easily as hermit crab inhabits the empty shell of a snail. As a result, he gained a new body, even if it wasn't human, and the absorbed evil had made his psychic energies stronger than before. So it was two benefits, which he believed were far greater than the one disadvantage of looking supernaturally bizarre.

"All I ask is that I'm not to be called by my pitiful human identity and be called what I rightfully am, the SHADOW KING!" Shadow King almost roared that last part out.

Sinister remained unfazed by the Shadow King's outburst. "Please, Shadow King," he said calmly, "Why this sudden outburst? All it is is a name. Besides, shouldn't you show a little gratitude for Selene's giving you that body to call your own, and not to mention, increase your hatred to grow stronger?" That last part was spoken with a touch of exasperation.

"All I want to is to be called what I am!" Shadow King snapped at Sinister, "I'm not that miserable blob of fat I was while I was the crime lord of Cairo!"

During this exchange Mesmero, who had taken off his hood and had let his head have full access to the atmosphere of the room, was shaking his head. "Honestly," said the tattooed telepath, "I'd think you would want Sinister to recreate your old body."

Shadow King looked at the other telepath, a look of surprise in his demonic eyes. "Don't make me laugh!" he told Mesmero, "This body is far preferable! I finally look the same on the outside as I do inside."

"Please," groaned Selene, "I find this gibberish of having a new body totally laughable, Farouk."

Shadow King snapped his head at the immortal sorceress. "Well, you have your goals, Selene, I have mine! And for the last time, call me--," he tried to make himself clear by pointing one of his long clawed fingers right at Selene's face. However, he didn't get the chance to finish his words before Selene interpreted him.

"If you finish that sentence," Selene threatened, "I'll make my next life-force feeding victim you!"

Shadow King glared at her. "You wouldn't dare!" he bellowed, "I have this body because you required my powers to aid you in this plan you and Sinister have concocted. You cannot afford to lose someone with telepathic powers as formidable as mine!"

"Please, you two," Sinister calmly intervened, "Let us not lose our tempers over small matters and focus on what lies ahead."

"Well," reported Mesmero, getting to the matter at hand, "We spied out on Magneto and Mystique, as well as on Xavier. Magneto is planning to use Trask's sentinel project to expose Mutants to world and have them see his views as the right, logical ones. As for Xavier, he as retrieved that new student of his. I must admit, I was not expecting your calculations of tonight's events to be so precise."

"Nor I," Shadow King added.

"Indeed," Sinister smiled, "There are times when I even amaze myself." After finishing that sentence, he looked at the muscular blue form of the Shadow King. "I hope you were able to keep yourself in check while spying on your long-hated rival, Shadow King. You didn't attack him did you?" The tone in Sinister's voice as he said that sentence was disproving and non-trusting.

Shadow King shook his head. "No," he answered, a sniff in his voice, "But I was extremely temped to."

"You really must concentrate on your current assignments, Shadow King, and leave your little quarrel with Xavier for later," Selene reprimanded him.

"Need I remind you, Sorceress, that I agreed to help you and Sinister do this plan, which you so often refer it as, because you agreed to let me have my revenge on Xavier? I've spent the better part of a decade on the cold, endless emptiness of the Astral Plane's void. That is where I will send Xavier's mind to return the favor of what he did to me so long ago."

"Yes, we agreed to that," said Sinister, "And, as a man of my word, I will let you get your revenge on Xavier. But not until we are done with our plan."

"As you wish," responded Shadow King in a slow and sarcastic manner that clearly said he was fed up with waiting.

"Now," Sinister spoke up, looking at the three faces around him, one tattooed, one blue, scaly and fanged, one of a beautiful woman of pure unrelenting evil and cruelty, "I do believe we should discuss this matter further with the muscle of this operation. Come."

* * *

In another part of the base, not too far from Sinister's laboratory, but separated by security systems and doors that would stop an army in its tracks, was a large room, containing a large oblong table with chairs all around it and a large screen on one wall for displaying important information. Seated at the table were five people, conversing. Some of them were excited, some acting with their own personal idiosyncrasies regardless of who others thought of them, and some, just plain brooding because they didn't have what they so greatly wanted, which was to tear their hated enemies apart limb from limb. 

"What I would like to know," said one of the figures, a young woman of twenty-six, "Why do we have to wait? We've been preparing for this forever. I want to do something before my fuckin' bones go all out overgrowing on me again!"

She was named Sarah Rushman, once a member of the lowly Morlocks who lived far beneath the streets of the cities, but everyone called her the codename "Marrow." Marrow had light purple skin, deep red/violet hair and also purplish eyes that went along well with her skin. However, she had long spiny growths of bone protruding from her shoulders, knees, and elbows that were as lethal as spears and each of her fingers had a long bony claw extruding from it. Unlike the others present, she wasn't leaning back on her chair. The reason was that she had six, long bladed bones protruding from her back, and her spinal column was now half inside her body and half outside, and was as spiny as the dorsal ridge of an iguana. Her entire skeleton was also four times more durable and sturdy that any human's, due to it having an excessive amount of calcium in its compact tissue, created by one of the mutations in her X-Gene.

Sarah had known only misery and suffering while she was in the Morlocks. At the time, she was thin, starving, and in constant pain. Her bone-growing mutation, out of control, was causing her bones to poke and pierce through her skin and organs. The agony was never ending. It was the only thing she ever noticed. But then, Sinister had offered her an answer.

As a Morlock, Sarah was wary of surface dwellers, as all Morlocks were. But the offer to end her pain was something she couldn't ignore. Sinister had said he could restore her body and end her pain, making her a more powerful, more fit mutant. In exchange, she would serve as one of his warriors. Anxious for relief and new life, Marrow agreed. The process had made her bone-growing mutation controllable, and now she was not ugly as before, but almost beautiful. And with her powers under control, she was a fierce fighter, a role she had come to relish in every way. Life was so much better now.

"Well, Bony Pony," said one of the three men, a muscular figure wearing a red and black suit, complete with a mask that covered every part of his face, even his eyes, "Maybe we could go out a little. You know, to pass the time in a sweet sense?" The man's voice was as obnoxious as ever, which was pretty damn obnoxious to anyone who even heard it once.

Marrow looked at the man, bearing her sharp teeth in a snarl. "If you suggest me being involved with you, Deadpool," she hissed venomously, "I'll stick so many of my bone knives into you that you'll look more like a pincushion that a human being!"

Wade "Deadpool" Wilson, whom everyone called "merc with a mouth,"placed his hands over his heart, acting like he was heart broken. But if there was one thing Deadpool could never be, it was heartbroken, for he had no heart to break. "Oh, sweetie, you hurt me!" he said stupidly, "You wouldn't say that if you knew me better. Besides, my healing factor will fix me up in jiff!" The last part was spoken with a more serious tone, for it was true. Deadpool was not a mutant himself, like Marrow was, but a genetically enhanced human. He'd been cured of a lethal strain of cancer, courtesy of Hydra's genetic branch, in exchange for his services as mercenary. The induced healing ability was so advanced that Deadpool could regenerated any wound from a deep bullet injury tosevered limbs and destroyed organs, even his heart. It allowed him to recover from any kind of injury. Now, thanks to his employer, who happened to be the big boss lady in charge of Hydra itself, he was in the services of Sinister. The reason why, he didn't know, nor did he care. As long as he was paid enough money.

The masked mercenary leaned over and reached out his arms to Marrow, as if trying to hug her. "Come ere," he said, "Give me a kiss and we'll call it even."

At that, Marrow leaped up from her chair and seized Deadpool around the neck in her clawed hand. With her free hand, she yanked one of the sharp, dagger-shaped bones from her back and held it so that the point was aimed directly at Deadpool's eye.

"One more word, ONE MORE, and I'll gouge out that piece of shit mud you call an eye!"

The others around the table merely sighed. Marrow had an explosive temper, and Deadpool had a knack for getting on other people's nerves, so this was not unexpected. However, Marrow felt a hand, with some incredibly long metallic claws on it,on her shoulder.

"Marrow," said the possessor of the hand, "Leave him to reap the rewards of his incompatance so he will learn when he is killed beyond ressurection."

Marrow knew who it was for more than one reason. She tuned her head to facea sinisterly lovely Japanese woman with short jet black hair and molten black eyes filled with fiery anger,who was seated on the same side of the table as she. Yuriko Oyama, who called herself "Lady Deathstrike," was looking at Deadpool who hung helplessly in Marrow's strong grasp."You waste your energy on someone as useless as him, you'll be acting on trival impulses."

Yuriko "Deathstrike" Oyama had once been an ordinary human. She was of a ruthless nature, and was among the most skilled martial artists and combatants in the world of assassins. However, due to revenge that she wanted on someone, which was more valuable to her than her life sometimes, she had agreed to be enhanced uning the latest in technology to make her more than a match for her future prey. She had been enhanced by cellular-enhancing nanites that now filled her tissues, granting her almost instantanious healing from injury. And of course, the adamantium talons were the most lethal weapons in her arsenal. She could use them more skillfully now than a samurai could wield a sword.

Marrow let go of Deadpool's neck. Over the time they had served in this personal combat unit of Mr. Sinister's, which he called his "Shadow Hunters," Deathstrike and Marrow had grown fairly tolerant of each other, even though they were not friendsin any way. Why Sinister ever included Deadpool in the game was beyond them. The most likely reason was that he was a good combatant and fierce fighter. Other than that, he was like gum on a shoe.

"Useless?" asked Deapool, his attention now on Deathstrike, "Oh, Sweetite! If you just let me, I'll show you how NOT useless I am!"

"Hold your tongue!" spat Deathstrike, pointing at Deadpool with a clawed finger, "Or I'll gouge out both your miserable eyes so you will never see my killing blow fall!"

All Deadpool did was cock his head to one side. Since he was wearing his mask, neither Marrow norDeathstrike could tell what his expression was. But then, they didn't have to, as he started talking again. "All three of us could do real well together."

Marrow and Deathstrike had looks of sheer aggression on their faces, and both were ready to strike Deadpool for his behavior, Marrow with her bone blades and claws, Deathstrike with her deadly adamantim talons. But neither got the chance, for someone really didn't want to see Deadpool get gutted and then hear him complain for days and days as he healed, refusing to acknowladge it was a result of his own stupidity. Deadpool suddenly felt what felt like a fifty-pound metal lump smashing into the upper part of his back at 100 mph.

The force from the blow sent the masked mercenary into the metal table so hard, Deadpool felt himself leave an impression on the table, and then, he was pulled back and flung to the floor by whoever had hit him. If Deadpool had been an ordinary human, his spine would never heal. But it already was, and it was only after a few moments he was up and feeling better, but pissed off as hell at whoever did that.

He looked up to see Marrow smiling in gratitude at the individual who was staring at him with two different eyes. "Thank you, Kane," said Marrow, smiling at Deadpool's predicament.

Kanewinked at her, with the eye of his that could and then turned back to Deadpool.

"What the hell was that about?" demanded Deadpool angrily.

"Your acting like some hormone-crazed mating fuck was getting very disgusting," Kane replied in his tough, quiet, and daring voice, a dangerous tone in it, as was normal with him, "I'd appreciate it if you kept your words to yourself, otherwise, next time I'll use plasma and burn your vocal cords out."

Garrison Kane was a tall, black-haired Canadian man. Kane was not a mutant, nor was he a genetically enhanced human. Like Deathstrike, he was a cyborg. Years ago, Kane had once been affiliated with Hydra, like Deadpool. He was fully human then, and was a skilled martial artist and weapons marksman, one of Hydra's best assassins. However, during a mission to retrieve some important tactical information on S.H.I.E.L.D., something had gone wrong and he was caught in an explosion. As a result, both his arms were blown off in the accident, and a spinal injury lost him use of his legs. In addition, head trauma had crushed the right side of his skull, and his right eye had been lost as a result.

But then, Sinister had approached him in the guise of a doctor while Kane was recuperating in hospital for superhuman criminals after S.H.E.I.L.D. agents had dug him out of the wreckage and incarcerated him. He offered to bust Kane out and upgrade him to be an even more deadly assassin than before, in exchange for his services. Kane had accepted only too gladly. Even Lady Viper herself granted him approval to work with the crazed geneticist.

What Sinister had done to Kane to "upgrade" him was what most would call mutilation. Kane's ruined and destroyed arms and legs had been amputated and replaced with state-of-the-art cybernetic appendages. His new arms, armored with adamantium plating, were powerful enough to punch through even the thickest wall, and each arm was equipped with built-in, long-range weapons. His new robotic adamantium armored legs allowed him immense jumping prowess and foot speeds. The right side of his skull was replaced with an admantium plate while his right eye socket was fitted with a special optic implant that gave him infrared vision as well as a specialized targeting system to aim his built-in weapons with lethal accuracy.

While most would be disgusted, Kane was thrilled beyond words at what he had become. Kane was always looking for ways to improve himself and push his abilities beyond their limits. What more could he have asked of? Besides, having all these new systems made him feel like a true assassin, something his time in Hydra had never done for him, at least not as much as he had wanted. Not even Hydra would have been able to give him these upgrades. Kane couldn't care less on how he looked now. All that mattered to him was what it granted and how formidable it made him.

"Kane!" Deadpool stomped over to the cyborg assassin, "You do that again and I'll kill you outright!"

Kane merely laughed with indifference at Deadpool's threat. "Please, Wilson, don't let that healing factor of yours go to your skull. That enhancement you got must have rotted your thinking centers."

Marrow started laughing. Deadpool was about to tell Kane to stuff it when the doors opened and four figures stepped through. Sinister and Selene both entered, strolling arm-in-arm, like they were king and queen strolling about their subjects. Behind them came Shadow King and Mesmero, the two telepaths walking side-by-side stoically and like two shadows. Shadow King still was not wearing a top, which had become a habit of his ever since Selene had granted him his new blue demon body. When Shadow King did wear his top, it was when he prowled the outside world at night. He wore his cloak to help conceal his form from the view of civilians. But that were the times when he scouted the areas in the flesh. Usually, he did it by sending his psychic essence out of his body, scouring the places like an invisible ghost.

Sinister looked at Deadpool, who had his fist raised at Kane. The scientist also noticed that the table had huge dent in it that hadn't been there before. And it was in the shape of a human torso with head and arms. "May I ask why there is a large dent in this table?" asked Sinister quietly, narrowing his eyes at the two assassins.

"Ask him!" Deadpool all but shouted the words, pointing to Kane.

"Marrow and Deathstrike were about to gut him anyway," said Kane simply, "I just wanted to shut this big-headed scab up before he got disemboweled. Again."

"Yeah?" demanded Deadpool, the aggression evident in his voice, "You with your cybernetics! You must've lost a huge chunk of grey matter when you lost your limbs, Mr. Robo-Man!"

Sinister was about to tell Deadpool to stop talking and just shut up, but Kane, with lightning fast speed, seized Deadpool by the neck with his left hand. As he held the masked Canadian out in front of him, his right arm transformed into the plasma cannon it could change into, the transmission head of the weapon glowing with an intense blue flare, plasma energy heating up and blindingly bright. Selene actually smirked at the scene before her. Seeing Deadpool in a tight fix was a great way to forget all the annoyance he caused.

Kane pointed his plasma weapon right at Deadpool's head, the cannon charged and ready to fire. "I'd appreciate it if you didn't insult me," Kane threatened at him, "Or else I'll blow your head off." In truth, if Kane fired his plasma weapon, Deadpool's head would actually be blown to bits right off his neck, unless the blast vaporized it first.

"Kane, Deadpool," Sinister sighed, "Why must you two be so quarrelsome? Sometimes I think you two spend more time fighting each other than you do your enemies."

Kane merely looked at his boss with a blank expression. "Sorry, Boss. I'm just sick of hearing this guy whine and wisecrack all day every day. And of course his pitiful attempts to be a lady's man when he's the worst nightmare of any member of the fairer sex."

"You said it, Kane,"Marrow chimed in, "He's got an ego the size of Texas!" A couple of the others laughed at that. But it was ture, Deadpool had an ego that was incalculable in size. So when it was hurt, it hurt worse for him that being shot.

"Who are ya callin'---," Deadpool was about to launch another comeback, but Selene stepped in.

"Alright," she snapped, "Just put your weapon away, Kane, and let that one go. He's not worth the time of an assassin like you." She looked at Deadpool with angry fierce eyes. But whenever she looked at Kane her expression was less threatening.

Kane let out a breath and nodded. But his neutral expression remained. His plasma cannon retracted into his arm and his robotic hand reformed at the end of the appendage. He then let Deadpool merely fall to the floor. "Fine," he said, and went back to his seat.

Deadpool's gaze traveled from his assailant to Selene. "Hey, Honey!" he demanded, "Why are so nicer to him than to me? It's almost like you like him more than me! Why would a good lookin' chick like you favor a hunk of plastic like him. I'm more a man the he is! Hell, he's less human than toaster oven!"

Red magical light started to flare in Selene's eyes, fiery evil burning in her orbs. "I'd keep your comments to yourself," she warned him, scathingly, "Or else I'll drain you of your life! And that, you little shit of a man, will be something that not even your healing abilities will be able to compensate for."

The act of actually doing what she threatened was only a hair's breath away. Selene was so god-damned sick of Wade Wilson and all the cracks he made, not to mention the attempts of flirting with all the women who came into ten miles of his being. The fact was, she did like Kane a thousand times more than Deadpool. As evil as she was, Selene didn't really LIKE him as most would apply it. It was just he was so much more tolerable than Wilson. Unlike Wade Wilson, Garrison Kane was an assassin who never really let his testosterone go to his head, nor did he make a joke about every other thing a person remarked on. He was the strong silent type, and was always ready for tougher assignments to prove his better. But perhaps the best part of all was that he followed their orders with question or complaint. That last part was the best quality of him. As long as Kane followed her rules without asking why, she could stand him, even if he was less man than machine.

"Wilson,"Marrow commented, "Kane is half machine, but he's ten times a MAN than you'll ever be! That shows how little of a man you are!"

"Enough!" Sinister announced emphatically, "You're all wasting precious time, which we do not have a lot of!" These Shadow Hunters of his were great assassins and warriors, but the quarreling between them seemed to just get out of hand each and every time he turned around.

With Sinister's words, the five Shadow Hunters quieted down, all of their eyes on the scientist and the sorceress by his side. Sinister looked over each and every one of them, trying to gauge if they would launch an argument with either another Shadow Hunter of even himself. When he got no further interruptions, he decided to go ahead with his intended speech.

"Now, let's get to the matter I called you all here to discuss," said Sinister, "I know you've all been waiting for the time when your services to us would be needed and I am pleased to say that that time is not too far away. Shadow King and Mesmero have been out spying tonight on Magneto's Acolytes and Xavier's students, and just as I predicated when I made calculations on how the current timeline would unfold, the events that would work in our favor are unfolding as we speak."

"What I would like to know is 'how the hell can you calculated anything with time?'" asked Kane, skeptically, "You may have better equipment that anyone else in the world, but since when is time-measuring technology available to anyone?"

Sinister only smirked at Kane's skepticism. Normally, Kane was a man of action rather than words, so when he showed he was curious it was a sign he was also wondering as well. That was fine with Sinister, as long as it wasn't about anything he shouldn't poke his nose into.

Rather than responding to Kane's question himself, Sinister let Selene answer for him. "Our organization's founder has 'resources,' Kane," Selene told him, "It's he who has given us the means of seeing into the future and past so that we can make sure all the events that occur concerning our targets happen in the right order, bringing them right into our grasp."

"So who is this so-called 'founder?'" asked Deadpool, "I for one would like to know who the big boss man I'm working for is."

"That's for us to know and you to find out," said Sinister, "He has instructions to remain anomalous for now. I'm sure you can understand."

"Now, there are current events that you must know," Sinister continued, "Right now, I'm sure you've all been familiarizing yourselves with the X-Men, Acolytes, and Brotherhood."

"Yes we have, but what I would like to know is, why are you so interested in them?" asked the cold voice of Deathstrike. Sinister merely looked at her, pleased at the cruel hardness and anger in her voice.

"The reasons why I am so interested in these three mutant teams, is that they are the core essence of all our planning, Deathstrike. They are who the four of us," he motioned to himself, Selene, Mesmero, and Shadow King, "have been watching, observing and studying for the past two decades. They are extremely important to our founder's plans for the world, and for himself. In addition, he has also promised us the opportunity to seek revenge on those of them we so desire. I'm sure you know what I am referring to."

Deathstrike felt her lips curl over her teeth in a fierce snarl, her long adamantium talons raking the table as she dragged her hands back over it, leaving deep scratches on the surface. Logan. Wolverine. That was who Sinister was talking about, andeveryone knew it. Ever since Deathstrike had been transformed into a cyborg with adamantium talons on her hands, she had been seeking for a way to get revenge on Logan. Sinister knew the reason, but to him it was less that worrisome. Yuriko Oyama was a skilled martial artist and deadly assassin, much like the others seated around the table. In fact, she was one of the more lethal and skilled assassins. She had agreed to be a member of Sinister's Shadow Hunters out of the price of making Wolverine suffer like never before. The offer of money was meaningless to her. Sinister just had to be sure that once she found Logan, she didn't kill him, for Wolverine, like the rest of the X-Men were needed for what he had planned. "I will work with you," said Deathstrike, "But I don't want to remind you that I was promised a chance of making that freak animal Wolverine suffer for the misery he has caused me."

Selene stepped forward towards Deathstrike, an evil smile of approval on her face. "Oh, you'll get your chance to see that animal suffer, enough," she told the clawed, half-cyborg woman, "in fact, once we get our hands on him, as we will do with the rest of the X-Men, you'll be able to continually gut and slice and cut him as much as you please without killing him."

Deathstrike didn't seem satisfied with the answer. "That animal is not even worthy of living!" she insisted, "I want to cut that skeleton of his out of his body on millimeter at a time slowly!"

"Oh, I think making him suffer for all time is a much worse thing than death. After all, being in so much agony to wish for death is better than death, for death only ends the agony. Wouldn't you agree, Omega Red?" Selene asked the last person in the room.

The last person in the room, who hadn't even spoken a word until now, was a man sitting at one of the far corners of the table, calmly, yet looking very dangerous at the same time. He wore a shimmering red suit of armor on his body, red armored guantlets and gloves on his hands and forearms, and a red headband with the Greek letter "Omega" on the front. His name was Arkady Rossovich a.k.a. Omega Red. Long flowing locks of blond hair flowed past his shoulders, his skin as white as chalk and his eyes blood red. He was an extraordinarily big man, standing 6' 11" tall, and weighing 425 pounds. And his musculature was greater than that of most bodybuilding champions.

Omega Red was a Russian mutant, possessing superhuman strength and the ability to release lethal toxic chemicals, called the "death factor,"from his body. From times long back, Arkady Rossovich was one of Russia's most notorious serial killers before he became Omega Red. Merciless, cunning, and deadly, he was selected to be the perfect super-soldier to protect the Soviet Union from enemies. As part of the process, he was armored with carbonadium plating and had prehensile carbonadium tentacles implanted in his arms that could squeeze with enough force to mash solid steel. But the need for his services were gone before they even arose. To make matters worse for the newly created super soldier, the carbonadium syntheisizer, the device that allowed him to control his mutant death factor, was lost during a conflict with Weapon X and Omega Red was placed in suspended animation, which was also a precautionary measure, for he couldn't control his mutant powers, which required him to drain the life energy from victims to sustain himself. But years ago, Hydra had illegally smuggled him out of the holding lab in Russia and recruited him. And to help him control his powers, he had been implanted with a replacement carbonadium synthesizer. Now, his new employer at Hydra had sent him to work for Sinister for a time. Omega Red was more than willing, for he wanted to get back at those bastard X-Agents, Sabertooth, Wolverine and Maverick, who were members of Weapon-X, the organization who defeated him during a conflict in Russia and left him broken.

"I would like nothing more than to simply crush Sabertooth and Wolverine in my tentacles like insects," said the over-sized Russian mutant, "Them and all of their Weapon-X comrades. Leave them broken, and seeing them suffer would be most entertaining."

"As in kill?"demanded Deathstrike, sounding like she was ready to slash with her claws, "Wolverine is mine!"

"I deserve to extract my revenge on that little man too," Omega Red said in calm and dangerous voice, "But I can live with seeing him suffer for a long time. Death only ends the agony, I say crush him and leave him broken and bleeding. All the time I sent on ice due to his interference on my country's golden age, he must know the fury of my people." Omega Red's dangerous mind, filled with his serial killer impulses, were what made the Russian-born murderer truly dangerous. And that was what Sinister liked about him the most.

But Sinister decided to continue on. "I assure you Deathstrike, and you Omega Red, will get your chances for revenge as I promised. But for now, we must wait. As we speak, Dr. Bolivar Trask, a former employee of S.H.I.E.L.D., is secretly constructing a warrior robot designated the 'Sentinel." Which he hoped to use to patrol humanity and destroy mutants. It is still underway right now, but when it is completed in approximately four weeks time, Magneto is going to use it to expose mutants to the world in the hopes of making the X-Men see that his miserable belief of mutants ruling the Earth is the right philosophy."

Everyone in the room was staring at Sinister as he spoke. Even Deathstrike and Omega Red were listening closely. While some were merely staring blankly forward, Marrow looked surprised.

"Expose mutants?" she asked incredulously, "That's crazy! It'll be like placing 'kill me' signs on the back of each and every mutant out there!"

"Indeed," said Sinister, "But we will be able to use that event to our advantage."

"How will that work?" asked Kane, "I fail to see how you can use that in your operation."

"What that event will grant us," said Selene, taking over for a second, "is the opportunity to seize the X-Men."

"Why?" asked Deadpool, "anytime's as good as another!"

"Because that will be when the X-Men will be in such confusion from terror of the public that they will be the most vulnerable to a surprise attack on them. As will the Brotherhood and Acolytes," said Sinister, "We must attack them when the time is right."

"Trust me, my Shadow Hunters," said Sinister, "the time for our plans is nearing. But we must prepare for it now and be ready for it. Too long have we been preparing for this for it to fail. And you will all be rewarded in the end. Another reason why we have waited so long is that all the pieces of the puzzle were not in place. However, now they are." He turned to Shadow King. "Tell them, Shadow King," said Sinister.

Shadow King stepped forward and began speaking. "Earlier tonight, Xavier got a new student in his team of X-Men. We've been carefully waiting for all the mutants we need to be in the right place at the right time. This new student of Xavier's was the last remaining candidate for our plans. Now that all the mutants we are searching for are in those three teams, and with those three teams in locations that we know well and can easily access. All we need to do is wait for the right time to attack."

"But what is the whole reason for this?" asked Deathstrike again, impatient as always for her revenge, "Why are you so interested in these three teams? And of course, what we supposed to do?"

"I was wondering that myself," said Omega Red, crossing his enormous arms over the massive carbonadium chest plate of his armor.

Sinister smiled at the Japanese woman, then at the large armored Russian. He could go on and on with his plans, but he couldn't tell them everything. If they knew too much, he could lose their cooperation. He couldn't risk that yet. "I've said all I can for now. When I have more information, I can tell you what steps will be next. All of you will be key parts in our plans, and if all goes well, you'll all be rewarded."

With that last sentence, Sinister looked at Selene, who was smiling with blatant zeal and sadistic excitement. Yes. If all went well, all of them would be rewarded for their troubles. But the biggest reward of all would be Sinister and Selene's. And nothing would stand between them and that reward.

* * *

More villains! Sinister and Selene are here! And the Shadow King and Mesmero have teamed up with them! And Sinister's "Shadow Hunters" are here as well! What do you think of the "alterations" I made on a couple of them? Sorry to all you "Nasty Boys" fans out there, but I wanted to try something different with this fic! So tell me, is this getting SINISTER enough for you (pun intended)? This is only the beginning of the fic friends. Simon is now with the X-Men, the Acolytes are in town, and there's an evil group lurking in the shadows, who have their eyes on all the mutants in Bayville! What's next? This fic is far from over! The main reason for this chapter was to bring in Sinister and Selene, introduce the Shadow Hunters and to let you all know something big is planned. If you're wonderng what the hell it is, that's the idea! I want you all to be kept in suspense. Not to worry, it will be revealed in time. And there will be even morenon-original characters down the road. I'm sorry if this dragged on, but that was how my fingers worked at the keyboard. I make mistakes. Anyhow, Review! Please Review! Please, oh please, oh please, review! 


	13. First Day as an X Man

**Chapter 12**

**First Day as an X-Man**

Being in deep dreamless slumber was the best feeling he had felt in the past two days other than being alive and breathing. Just warmth, comfort and no worries except on how to be most comfy and most relaxed. But like all things pleasant and worriless, it had an end that seemed to come too soon.

Simon Valley opened his green eyes wide as sleepiness left him. Although no longer sleepy, he still felt rather limp and tired despite his nights rest. He sat up in his bed, at first wondering why it felt different from the bed he used all the time at home in Moonriver Falls. But then he remembered he was no longer in Moonriver Falls, Washington, but in Bayville, New York. He was all the way across the country. And in a school for mutants no less, he himself being a mutant.

That feeling was something new. A mixture of all sorts of anxiety and excitement, fear and uncertainty, and of course, curiosity and wonder. This was his first day at the Xavier Institute for Gifted Youngsters and this would undoubtedly be the day he should familiarize himself with all who lived here and their powers and styles of living. Moving to another school, as he had done twice in the past already, had taught Simon that it was no easy task getting to know a whole lot of new people.

The blond-haired mutant got out of bed and stretched himself. It felt so good to have his tightened muscles stretched out again so that they could flex and relax easier. As Simon stretched out his arms and legs he heard several of his joints pop. Simon didn't mind the noise. He popped his joints all the time. Then he did a few torso rotations to get the crinks out of his spine. They escaped with a snap-crackle-pop sound.

Satisfied that he was as loose as possible, looked at his bedside clock/radio alarm. 7:00 a.m. Simon sighed. He'd set his alarm for 7:30, and he was awake over thirty minutes before he had intended. Simon wasn't really frustrated or annoyed by it. He'd had plenty of mornings when he awoke before his alarm went off. He wasn't entirely certain, but it could have had a connection to his powers. His powers of energy seemed to always be affecting him to some degree.

That thought made Simon think of how much his powers had affected him over the past five years. Even before they had emerged, Simon had been feeling strange, showing symptoms of what could have easily been mistaken for sickness.

It had started with dramatic drops and leaps in energy for his body. There were times when he felt so energized that he couldn't even sit still. It had started out only for brief periods before that powerful energetic feeling faded into the normal everyday level. Then there were times when he was incredibly tired, so exhausted that he could hardly walk, stand, or even sit upright, like he had run a five-mile marathon in 125 degree heat. The two feelings had alternated, the periods of the feelings became longer each time, up to the point when he hadn't slept for two whole days, and that was followed by three days of utter exhaustion then he had slept at least 70 percent of the time. But then real confusing symptoms began to emerge.

One day, he had an immense fever of 103, his skin feeling scalding to the touch. Hot points had been in his arms and hands as well as his head, giving him red-hot headaches. After that, even stranger symptoms emerged. He had felt like electrical currents were surging along his body before they became painful jolts. Then there had been what felt like pressure in his joints and limbs, and then his head and chest and stomach, like the parts were being pressed down upon, sometimes painfully hard.

With so many of these signs, he had been given aspirins and Tylenol for them. When those hadn't made a single dent in the strange feelings, he was taken to a doctor, who could find no problems with him. And then, during that trip up in Oregon when he had seen that girl under attack, the feelings of pressure, heat, pain, and jolting in his flesh seemed to burst, and signs of his energy morphing powers had appeared as those bolts of his were fired.

And now, in unique twist of fate, Simon had discovered that others with powers were alive, and had been offered a place at a school for them. _How things have changed_, Simon thought. Never in a million years would Simon have thought that a school like this existed, let alone that there were others out there like him. Simon wasn't sure right now if he should feel unique or like an exile from humanity.

That also made him wonder if the others here had felt like he did. But with all the questions he had, like what life was like here and how powers were used, he was likely to forget to ask that question in particular.

But after that, Simon thought again of Xavier. Simon had known the man for only a single night, but truth be told, he respected and admired him already. Charles Xavier had seemed so kind and understanding, but all the words of wisdom and logic that he had said last night went raging through Simon's mind even more. And the fact that all the students and teachers here looked up to him for guidance, help, and advice only strengthened the notion of how big a figure he was around here. Xavier had helped him with so much already, even with a codename.

Simon thought about the name he had as an X-Men member. Raiden. Japanese god of lightning and thunder. Simon had decided once he had heard the meaning that he liked that name. Besides, with all the energy he could shoot and mold, as well as morph into a supernatural-seeming being, that was what he actually felt like when he used his powers, a thunder god. And since Simon was very avid fan of mythology, that helped too.

The next thing that Simon did after that thought was look in the mirror. And as usual, he looked less than neat. His blond hair was ruffled, sticking out in multiple directions at once like a haystack. The whites of his eyes were pink. And the signs of golden stubble on his chin and cheeks indicated he was in need of a shave.

Simon went to his dresser and took out a towel, shampoo, body wash, and a scrubber, as well as his electric toothbrush and wet/dry shaver. Once he had them, he headed off to the showers.

* * *

It was so loud that it was ear piercing. And it was supposed to be too. It was to wake her up and it sure as hell did that. Rogue's eyes sprang open to the sound she heard. Had she been awake, he probably wouldn't have been so overwhelmed by the noise. But in sleep, where there was nothing but peace and quiet, the slightest sound was like a pair of cymbals next to your ear. 

The young goth sat up in her bed, wearing her usual green and orange sleepwear, ready for a new day in the life of a student of Professor Xavier. Looking out the window, Rogue saw that the sun was already a fair distance above the horizon, and the light was blinding as it traveled straight into her eyes.

Another morning. Another day of life as an X-Man. What, oh, what would today's unknown time bring?

Rogue slid out of bed and stretched herself, her stiff muscles loosening. She looked at her alarm clock, seeing that it was 7:05 in the morning. Seven full hours of sleep. Not too bad for a girl who occasionally had nightmares of memories reverberating inside her head.

The next thing Rogue noticed was that Kitty was still asleep. The petite brunette was lying asleep in bed, her brown hair sleep-tangled, clutching her stuffed dragon to her chest. When Kitty slept, she slept like a log. Even Rogue's alarm had not woken her up.

Rogue ran a hand through her dark auburn hair, already feeling the knots and tangles her sleep had tied up in it. That meant only one thing. A trip to the shower.

Taking one last look at her sleeping roommate, Rogue walked out into the hallway. Since it was still fairly early, no one was really up. Rogue was half expecting to see one or two of the younger girls out and about, but she saw no one. Rogue was an early riser by nature, and for the New Mutant girls, she guessed being young meant the need for sleeping in. Since there was no Danger Room session scheduled for today until the afternoon, they would take full advantage of the free sleeping time. Surprise surprise.

The walk to the bathroom was not a long one, but in a mansion like the institute, it could sure seem that way to one unfamiliar with the territory. Rogue was wondering how long it was going to take for her to get her hair unfrizzled and loosely hanging again. Every morning it was like trying to undo knots, usually taking a nice long shower followed by a hairdryer hair combing.

The young goth tried running a hand through her dark auburn locks, hoping that she could get some tangles out before she entered to shower. However, she was looking downward at the carpeted floor and didn't see anyone coming until she ran into someone.

"Hey!" Rogue called out in surprise rather than in anger. She saw a pair of feet in black slippers standing in front of her. For a moment, she thought it was Bobby Drake, up to his usual pranks again, but just then, she looked up and saw that it was the last person she had expected.

"Rogue?" asked Simon Valley, who was gathering the things he was holding. He was wearing a heavy dark grey bathrobe and was carrying bathing utensils, a white bath towel slung over his shoulder. And he looked as scruffy as she did.

Rogue suddenly hoped that the new guy would think of her as an irritable mean-tempered bitch after his first day here. What bad impression that would make. "Oh," she said, "Sorry, Simon, I thought you were Bobby."

Simon arched one of his blond eyebrows. "Bobby Drake?" he asked. Rogue nodded. "Why him?"

Rogue figured that now was good time to inform Simon of Bobby's reputation of being the most obnoxious, most annoying prankster on the face of the earth, even though some of the others, like Tabitha and Kurt were close seconds. Since Simon was new here, that would probably make him a likely target for a few of the Frost Boy's pranks.

"Well," said Rogue, "to give yah a friendly warning, Bobby loves to play pranks on people. Heh's always pullin' pranks on people, always icing up floors and freezing people's things. I just thought you were him tryin' to pull a prank on meh."

Simon looked at Rogue with thought in his eyes. "So, a troublemaker eh?" he asked, sounding serious.

"Ya better believe it," said Rogue in full agreement, "An also be careful of Tabitha and Kurt. They don't play pranks as often a Bobby, but they come close second."

"I see," Simon replied, sounding disproving.

Rogue took notice of it. "Yah sound lahke ya don't like that."

"Let's just say I don't like being made a fool of," Simon answered bluntly.

"Welcome to the club," offered Rogue.

"You don't like it either?" asked Simon, noticing how not amused she sounded.

Rogue shook her head.

"Well, then I'm in good company. Anyway, where are the showers? I was wondering where they are."

Rogue suddenly realized that Simon was walking in the wrong direction. The bathrooms on this floor, both the Men's and Women's were located further down the hall side by side and Simon was walking away from them. Since Simon was new to the institute, there was a very good chance he didn't know he was heading in the wrong direction.

"Actually," said Rogue, feeling a little amused at the next part, "Yer wakin' away from em."

"I am?" asked Simon, with a slight sense of apparent surprise in his voice.

"Yeah, let me show ya," Rogue offered, and motioned Simon to follow, which he did. The two of them walked past the doors to Simon's room, then a little farther down until they reached their goal. Simon looked to Rogue with an embarrassed smile.

"Thanks," he thanked her, "never would have found this myself."

For some unknown reason, Rogue felt a sense of good feeling in her as Simon said those words. However, she couldn't quite understand it. She just felt it. It was there, for no apparent reason. It was nothing big. Just a simple thank you. Yet, it made her feel good.

"Yer welcome," she told him. After nodding to the Southern-borne goth, Simon opened the door to the men's shower and closed the door behind him after switching the sign on the doorknob to read _occupied_.

Rogue, stood still outside the door for a second, contemplating what effect Simon's gratitude had on her. She finally decided that it was a sign that she was making a good impression on the new student on his first day. If that was the case, then she wouldn't have to worry about him forming a low opinion of her in the future if she just kept up this pace. She would have to work on that.

Just as Rogue was turning to go to the women's shower she hear a muffled BAMF sound, as if it were coming from behind a door in another closed off room. She knew immediately it was the sound of Kurt porting, the sound of BAMF was dead giveaway. But she immediately realized that volume of the sound and its close proximity was something else. It was near. And seconds later, it happened.

"Hey! What gives here?" she heard Simon's voice demanding in angered surprise.

"Vhoa! I'm zo zorry!" she heard a German-accented voice gasp in the bathroom.

Rogue felt like groaning. Kurt Wagner, the unexpected and annoying teleporter, had entered the bathroom unannounced while someone was in there. Again. Just one more time to an incalculable number. She turned and saw the door open up and Kurt, blue fur and all, backed out into the hallway. The next instant, Simon poked his head out the door as well.

"Geez, Kurt! Don't do that to me! I almost blasted you through the wall!" Simon looked agitated and annoyed, which was the typical look for people who were startled by Kurt's porting.

"Look man, I'm zorry!" the blue-furred boy explained, "It's a habit of mien."

"Well, Kurt," Simon told him, more gently this time, "I advise you get that habit out of your system. Because one day, I guarantee you, it will get into deep doo-doo."

Kurt shrugged with his three-fingered hands as Simon then closed the door to go back to tidying himself up for the day.

"Ya did yer untold teleporting again didn't yah?" asked Rogue, giving the fuzzy elf a knowing look.

Kurt looked at Rogue with an embarrassed look in his golden eyes. "Ja. I did it on Simon on he'z first day too. Not ze impression I vas hoping to give."

"Yah know, you really should try to get rid of that. Cause it may get ya into deep trouble one day."

"Now you tell me," Kurt groaned, feeling pounded into the ground after hearing the same thing from two people in less than five seconds.

* * *

The kitchen was filled with students who were up and alert. All were edger for the two weeks of spring break up ahead for them and each wanted to be awake for as long as possible to enjoy it all. Ororo was at the stove, frying some eggs and bacon as Jean and Scott helped with pancakes and syrup. The air of the room was heavy with the rich scent of salt, sugar and frying meat as the constant chatter of people flowed like water through the air as the mutants conversed. 

"Man, I'm starved!" said Kurt as he came into the kitchen, stopping for a moment to inhale the heavenly aroma of food.

"Breakfast is ready when you want it," said Ororo as she placed another large spoonful of scrambled eggs onto the main serving platter near the stove and turned some more bacon to fry on the other side. Kurt hurried over to the stove and grabbing a plate, loaded it up with food and went to join the others.

One look at the pile of food on Kurt's plate made Kitty's brow furrow. "Man, Kurt, why can't you like, eat a lighter breakfast than that?" she asked, studying the large pile of eggs and sausages on the elf's plate, "You have any idea how much narrower your veins will be?"

Kurt smirked at Kitty. "Kitty, you know me," he explained, going into an age old explanation, "I'm------," But before he could really get into his reasons for eating so much food, Kitty raised her hand to silence him.

"Yeah, I know. You're a teleporter so you need to eat all that because you use so much energy up teleporting."

Kurt's golden eyes twinkled like two gold nuggets. "You forget the part of me being ze most agile one here too." Kitty mock glared at blue-furred mutant, and returned to what could only be called a "vegetarian" breakfast, consisting of a salad, banana and orange juice, which was the sort of meal she had all the time.

At that moment Rogue came in. "Morning, Stripes," said Logan, who looked up from his morning paper.

"Morning, Logan," said Rogue, grabbing a frosted sweet roll off the pastry platter and tall glass of water. She sat down near Kitty.

"Hey," asked Ray, who was sitting with Bobby and Sam as usual, "Where's the new guy?"

"Who?" asked Jean, "Simon?"

Ray nodded.

"Is he still sleeping?" asked Bobby, "If he is, he's gonna miss out on breakfast."

"Then that means more food for us!" exclaimed Roberto, sounding edger to have more food in his stomach than a late riser would.

"Nah, he's awake," said Rogue, "Last I saw he was headin' to the showers. And then Kurt did it."

Amara looked at Rogue curiously, "Did what?"

Instead of answering directly, Rogue turned to Scott, who had sat down with Jean by his side. "Hey, Scott."

"Yeah, Rogue," asked Scott, curious to what she was referring to.

"Has Kurt ever ported into thah bathroom while yah were usin' it?" asked the goth.

Jean looked at Scott with a slight amused smile, for she knew what Rogue was referring to. Scott looked at his girlfriend and smiled back in an embarrassed fashion. "Yeah, many times," he admitted, "He's done that to a lot of people here."

"Who did Kurt do it to this time?" asked Jamie.

"Ah'll give ya all one guess," said Rogue.

The new mutants all looked at each other and came toe same conclusion. "Simon," they all said in union.

"Got it in one," said Rogue.

"Well, that explains the shouting I heard this morning," said Scott, casting a teasing glance over to Kurt.

"You really gotta port less and walk more, Elf," said Logan.

Kurt didn't want to sound affected by all this, but an exasperated sigh still escaped him. "Man, vhat is this? 'Lecture Kurt Day?'"

Scott, Jean, and Kitty smirked at him.

"Man, this food is fantastic, Ororo," said Jubilee, "You make the best!"

Ororo chuckled a little as she brought over some more food to place on the table. "Thank you, Jubilee. I appreciate that."

"Yeah, as long as Kurt doesn't eat it all himself!" joked Bobby.

"Hey!" Kurt snapped, "Enough already!"

Just then, the door to the kitchen opened, and Simon walked in, all freshly scrubbed, washed and shaved. He was dressed all in black: black shoes, black jeans, and a black T-shirt that didn't exactly do that much to conceal his athletic upper body. And a shiny golden cross on a golden chain hung around his neck. His all-black attire contrasted deeply with the color of his hair, skin, and eyes.

"Morning," he announced as he entered the room.

"Morning, Simon," said Jean, "We were beginning the think you weren't going to show up."

"Miss out on breakfast?" asked Simon, "No way."

"Help yourself," said Ororo, "there's plenty to go around."

Looking over the plates filled with scrambled eggs, sausages, bacon, toast, rolls, and pancakes made Simon's mouth water. He hadn't eaten in some time and he felt the need to refuel. His stomach growled.

He immediately took a plate and started to pile on food. At first the others didn't make too much of it, but as the teenager piled more and more food onto his plate some took notice. By the time Simon had finished loading his plate, he had on a pretty large stack of pancakes and had as much bacon, sausage and eggs on his plate as Kurt did.

"Jeez, isn't that too much, Simon?" asked Scott, looking at the plate with uncertainty.

"But I'm starving," Simon responded.

"Enough to eat all that?" asked Jean.

Simon nodded. He got a large forkful of sausage when he noticed Kitty looking at his plate heaped to the brim with what she considered "bad" food. "What?" he asked, not liking being looked at in that way.

"Eeewww. You're even worse than Kurt," Kitty declared.

Simon's brow furrowed. "What?" Bobby and Roberto started chuckling. Kitty pointed to Kurt's plate, which had Simon's amount of food on it, minus the stack of pancakes.

"You're talking some major cholesterol there," Kitty added.

"When you have powers like mine, Kitty," said Simon in a matter-of-fact voice, "You need all the calories you can get." With that, he took a big bite and started eating.

Jean and Scott exchanged glances. They were not really expecting Simon to say that. They all could sort of understand that teleporting through another dimension and having Olympic-class acrobatic skills required Kurt to have huge energy reserves. But for Simon, the need for massive energy seemed even more obvious. When they thought his turning his flesh into living energy and all the beams and blades he had formed out of his limbs, he had even more reason to guzzle down calories than Kurt did. However, Kitty let out a sigh. "Great now we have two calorie consumers around here," she muttered.

"What's that supposed to mean?" Simon asked, sounding a little offended.

Luckily, Rogue was there to take over before Kitty could pride herself with being a vegetarian. She didn't want to have to listen to that again. It was SO annoying to hear it repeated. How anyone could be a vegetarian was beyond her. "Kitty's a vegetarian," she told Simon, "So she disproves of anyone who eats a lot of meat."

"I see," said Simon, casting a glance at the valley girl who didn't approve of his food or Kurt's..

"She'z always trying to get otherz to do it as vell," Kurt added, "She thinks meat is bad for you."

"It is," said Kitty, "Why can't anyone see that? You should try something like a salad."

"For breakfast? I appreciate your concern, Kitty," said Simon sarcastically, rolling his eyes, "But I'm a guy who's on a high protein, high calorie, high meat, diet."

The rest of the meal passed without incident. Everyone had his or her fill of food, as well as Ororo and Logan, who had had morning coffee together. Everyone exchanged their conversations and the new mutants finally got a chance to talk to Simon for a longer time than the previous night. Simon was fine with that, even though he preferred to converse with Scott and the rest of the senior students, for they were more his age and he felt more at home with others who were like that.

The meal was just about ending and people were starting to clear their places. A few others however were just finishing up their food or drinking their last cup of coffee or glass of milk, five of which Evan downed, or juice.

Kitty, finished with her vegetarian meal, reached out to grab the last remaining apple from the tray to eat as a last touch. But as her hand neared the fruit, another hand reached out and grabbed the apple before she could touch it. Kitty's gaze followed the arm and discovered that the person who beat her to it was Simon. "Hey!" Kitty said irritably, "I wanted that!"

"Sorry, Kitty," Simon told her, not looking phased by her outburst, "But I grabbed it first. Better luck next time."

"But I really want it," said Kitty, in a much, much softer, almost pleading tone of voice, "Please, Simon?"

Scott and Jean and Rogue were all watching the scene. Each of them had been in situations like this before. Kitty Pryde, Half-pint of the X-Men, was going to use her secret weapon. Her puppy dog eyes. That look was so cute and adorable and helpless-little-girl-like that practically no one could say no to it. And now Simon was going to get it. They almost felt sorry for him.

_Are you thinking what I'm thinking?_ Jean asked her boyfriend telepathically.

_Oh, Yeah_, Scott responded, _The Kitty puppy dog eyes_.

_Bingo_.

Rogue only sat there and sighed and looked exasperated. She knew Simon would run into this sooner or later. Only not this soon.

Then Kitty used it on him. Several people saw it. Then they waited for Simon's resolve to fall and for him to hand the fruit to Kitty. No one could say no to a look like that.

For a few moments Simon studied Kitty's look. He had seen quite a few that could be called cute in one way or another. Oh, but Kitty was one to top them all. Those big baby blues were so cute, so pleading, so innocent that he had absolutely nothing to compare them to. Just looking at them made his mind reel.

Scott averted his gaze over to Logan, only to see the feral Canadian frowning in bored annoyance. Then, Logan raised a hand and started counting silently to three by raising his fingers. One. Two. Three.

At that moment, Simon let out a defeated sigh and handed Kitty the shiny green apple. And just like that, Kitty's face went from sad and pleading to pleased and smiling with happiness. She took a big bite out of the apple, relishing it, as Simon shook his head, silently cursing himself for not being stronger. He enjoyed seeming durable around people, but giving into Kitty had made him feel like softy, which he hated.

Kurt and Rogue let out sighs too, but Scott and Jean looked at each other with the same thought.

"No one told him about Kitty's secret weapon did they?" asked Jean, already knowing the answer.

"Nope," said Scott, "they didn't."

* * *

**Later**

At around one in the afternoon that day, Xavier, Logan, Hank, and Ororo were in the professor's office after lunch later on that day, having coffee and having a faculty meeting. After a morning of showing their new student around and looking after the others one the first day of their two-week long vacation from school, they had all gathered to decide how training was going to be approached throughout this no school period. Of course, the opinions were varying among each of them, while a compromise was the best way to set it satisfactorily.

"I think that it's pretty reasonable, Chuck," said Logan, always being the one to do a touch of overkill in training, "No school means twice the free time. So we train them twice as much."

"Just how much are we are we talking about Logan," asked Hank, who pushed his glasses higher up on his beast-like face, "what was the case last time you said work them twice as much? Three times as much? Four times?" he said the last few words with a slight chuckle, but of course, Logan didn't exactly find that particularly amusing. Then again, what did he find lately that was.

"Yer point, Hank?" Logan asked, hoping this wasn't going where he thought it was.

Hank looked at Logan for a second, then shifted his gave to Ororo, who sat in a chair near the former living weapon. It was sometimes amazing how the contrast in aura between the two caught your attention. Logan was of the intimidating sense almost all the time. All the years spent fighting for survival in the Canadian wilderness and all the training in weapons and hand-to-hand combat he had acquired throughout his years of traveling the world had molded Logan into the ultimate warrior, master of all forms of combat and as fearsome to his prey as his namesake. Ororo, on the other hand, was of a calming presence. As a weather goddess from the dark continent, it only seemed to make her even more like a goddess when coupled with her exotic beauty.

Ororo cast Logan a knowing, yet gentle, smile, which made Logan raise his eyebrows in question. She let out a small chuckle.

"Alright what's the joke?" asked Logan, suddenly feeling impatient.

Xavier was the next to speak, for he very well knew what Hank and Ororo were thinking of about Logan, even without using his telepathy. "I think they're talking about your tendency to overdo it sometimes," said the Professor, "You seem to do it in a lot of situations." The powerful psychic couldn't help but give a smile of his own on that.

"Yer point?" the blurry Canadian probed.

"Have you ever considered easing up on them during combat training? All your pushing may be more than they can handle."

A smug smile crossed over Logan's features, as if amused by Hank's statement. "Nah, it's good form 'em. Helps build their resilience."

Ororo considered responding to that statement, but chose not to. After all, She and Logan had been in a lot of verbal spars like that before and each time, neither of them had ever come out the winner. She just let it rest and asked Professor Xavier another question. "Have you decided on how to set training for this vacation, Charles?" she asked.

"I think that this would be a good time for us to start training the X-Men and New Mutants together," said Xavier, "The New Mutants have been with us for a while now. It may do them some good to have some training along with the senior students."

"You're not thinking of merging both squads into one large group are your, Charles?" asked Hank, "quite a few of the younger students aren't ready for the amount of responsibility the others carry."

"I'm well aware of that, Hank. And to answer your question, no, I don't plan on merging both squads. But I do think that since both teams are now in the same place at the same time for now, we could use this to our advantage and have them do side-by-side Danger Room sessions on a trial run basis. It could help them prepare for more difficult training and responsibility later on."

The others considered that for a second. Logan spoke up, realizing something he thought the others may have overlooked. "You sure, Charles? Some of the squirts haven't been exactly showing the needed stuff for bein' X-Men." Logan pointed out.

"What do you mean, Logan?" asked Xavier, his curiosity piped.

"Well, Time-bomb and the ice cube have been pullin' their little pranks on people an awful lot over the past few weeks. Just two days ago, Iceman froze up the showers in the Locker Rooms."

"Yes, I remember that," said Hank, chuckling at the memory, "Bobby sure has a lot of spirit doesn't he?"

A growl came from Logan, for he didn't think icing up the showers was funny at all, especially since all the guys who used it didn't like it either. "And of course, Boom-Boom planted some of her little cherry bombs in my lunch last weekend."

At the mention of that event, Ororo just burst out laughing. Logan snapped his head at the weather witch, even more annoyed than before by the fact Ororo found that funny while he was ready to slice and dice everything in his line of vision. "I'm sorry, Logan," chuckled Ororo, "But you looked pretty messy after that incident."

"What was it that Tabitha put that bomb in?" asked Hank, smirking at the memory of seeing Logan splattered with sauce, meant and molten cheese, "A chili dog with the works?"

"Aright people," Logan growled, "can we get back to business here?"

Xavier, Ororo, and Hank all had on last chuckle before they regained their posture. "Well, back to more serious matters," said Hank, "I do think that doing some extra training may help our more spunky recruits occupy their time with less mischief and more work. We just may have a few less frozen showers or rigged lunches for the next week if we do that."

"I tend to agree Hank," said Xavier, "Some of them have been saying that they're ready. But we may see just how ready they truly are."

"So when shall we begin this trial run basis, Charles?" asked Ororo, "Today?"

For a moment, Xavier thought deeply, weighing the pros and cons of that suggestion. "I think we'll start tomorrow. I'll need time to come up with effective training scenarios for the mutants to work with."

"I'd still like to continue with the personal training sessions I have with them," Logan added, "They seem to be gettin' better at their kicks and punches."

Xavier smiled. "A fine idea, Logan." The professor sipped some more of his coffee. Logan smiled a little at hearing his idea was good one.

"Well," said Hank, gulping down the last of his coffee, "I think that Charles and I should start prepping the Danger Room for this afternoon's session. You two care to give us a hand?"

"You know it, Bub," said Logan, smirking.

They were just about to get up and start to leave when a question popped into Ororo's mind. She suddenly remembered that they had a new student who hadn't had a single Danger Room session or training course in his life regarding mutant powers. She wasn't sure just how they were going to start teaching him.

"Oh, before I forget," Ororo snapped her fingers, "Charles, have you decided on how to start with Simon's training?"

It was like a big reminder for Xavier to hear that sentence. Ever bell in his head started ringing. "I was wondering that myself," said Hank, "We really need to decide where we're going to put him before we begin anything else."

Xavier looked at each of his three instructors, each of them giving him questioning looks, and each of them for the same reason. "Thank you for bringing that up. Yes, we must decide where to put Simon before we start any training."

"What team's he going to be on?" asked Logan, "The New Recruits?"

"I've given that some thought," Xavier responded, "However, I've decided that we're not going to place him on the New Mutant squad."

The others looked a little surprised by that. "What is your reason for that?" asked Ororo, "He hasn't had any training thus far. He may be better off with the New Mutants than with the X-Men."

"Well," explained the professor, "It's partly to do with his age. He's nineteen now, as old as Scott and Jean, and I think he may be better suited working with others his own age. In order for our training to be effective, we must make our students as comfortable as possible, and I think Simon will be best suited with the X-Men. As for his training, or lack thereof, we're going to have to train him harder than the others until he's up to speed with the rest."

"Okay, so how do we know what he needs?" asked Logan, "I've seen this kid in action. He has some powers, I'll admit, but he doesn't really know how to use them."

"I think that what we'll do today is have Simon train with the X-Men when they have their session today. We can all judge his need for help as we watch his performance during the session. After that, we can decided where to go from there."

Hank and Ororo seemed satisfied with that, but Logan did not. "You sure he's up to it?" he asked.

"I think Simon deserves the chance to show us what he's capable of before we go into any heavy training," answered the professor, "So, now that that's taken care of, let us go and prepare the Danger Room."

With that everyone got up to leave, but then it was Xavier who remembered something. "Oh, Ororo."

"Yes?"

"Could you send Evan up here. I want to discuss something about what happened last night with him," he said the last part a little more seriously.

Ororo and Logan only exchanged glances. Evan's run with Simon was about to get the attention it deserved.

* * *

Rogue was currently sitting at one of the ends of the institute under a tree, reading. Rogue, by nature, was of the loner type. Well, it was partially due to her nature and also due to her powers. Staying away from others made her powers less of a hazard to them, for it gave her no target to accidentally drain. Her powers. Her powers. When the hell was there going to be a day when that didn't bother her so much? 

Rogue was reading one of her Stephen King novels _IT_, about the evil presence stealing away children using their darkest fears in a small Maine town. Reading was really good way to escape from the hardships of life. She could just let her imagination run wild and not have to worry about anything bothering her. As her eyes scanned the pages in front, her thoughts on her powers started to fade once again and hopefully they wouldn't come back for a while.

The sound of rustling bushes and snapping twigs caught her attention. It was close, and it was coming closer. And she knew twigs only snapped like that when someone was stepping on them. Rogue's alarms system started of buzz like a hive of bees. She had a feeling that maybe this was Bobby or Tabitha out for a prank on her, or maybe Kitty and Kurt, who were the two troublemakers of the senior students. She was gonna drain them big time if they were pulling any shit on her.

But then, the maker of the noise emerged from the bushes, and to Rogue's surprise, it wasn't who she was expecting. Simon stepped out of the bushes, some of the leaves from the plants sticking to his black T-shirt. He stopped for a moment to brush the leaves off before looking around him.

When he spotted Rogue sitting there under a tree his eye widened. From what Rogue could tell, he seemed as surprised to see her as she was to see him. For a few moments they looked at each other, unsure of what to say. Rogue felt a little awkward here. Part of her was relieved that it wasn't a prankster trying to make a fool out of her, but part of her was anxious because she had no idea what to say to Simon now that he was here.

"Rogue?" Simon said at last, sounding caught off guard, which he probably was.

"Simon." Rogue cursed herself for the unstableness in her voice, for she like to sound in control of herself at all times, even though her powers made her feel otherwise.

"I-I'm sorry. I didn't see you there," said Simon, "I didn't mean to disturb you or anything."

"It's no big deal," Rogue assured him, "Ah just wasn't expecting anyone to stumble by on me."

"What are you doing out here?" asked Simon.

"Ah was just reading," replied Rogue, holding up her book so he could see it, "Ah lahke to just come out here and read once in a while. It helps meh get away from the troubles of life."

"I get ya," Simon stated, "I was just taking a walk around outside. I thought it would be safer to walk around back here than out front."

"What do ya mean?"

"As soon as I stepped out the door, I was almost frozen," reported Simon, sounding unpleased with having to say that to her. When Rogue had first come out here, she had sent he New Mutants making full use of the basketball courts for a game of mutant ball. Rogue put two and two together.

"Were the New Mutants goofing around again?" she asked.

"How did you know that?"

"It happens all the time around here," said Rogue, "Normally they break at least one or two things while they're at it." Rogue felt that pair of green orbs were staring down at her all the time she talked. Those penetrating green eyes. Almost like they were looking into her rather than at her. Rogue hadn't seen a lot of eyes in her day that made her feel transparent, but Simon's eyes did. Not as penetrating as Mystique's or in a bad way, but she couldn't quite place it.

"Do you want me to leave?" asked Simon, willing to leave if she wanted to be alone.

Rogue shook her head slightly. She wasn't sure why she did it, maybe she did want him to leave, but she wanted to get to know him better. "It's okay," she told him carefully, "Yah can stay if yah want to."

For moment, Simon was silent and then walked over to a tree that was close to the one Rogue was sitting against. He sat down there and leaned back against the truck. "Thanks," he thanked her, "So, uh,where you from?"

Surprise washed over Rogue's face. "Ah'm from down South."

"Where down South?" he asked, wanting details.

"Why do yah want to know that?" asked Rogue, sounding a little annoyed. More than she intended to.

However Simon didn't seem to take the hardness in her voice as attack. "I'm just trying to make conversation with you," he answered plainly, "Plus I just want to know. I've heard you speak before and so I reasoned you weren't from around here."

Simon just wasn't entirely sure of what to make of what Rogue was thinking right now. He couldn't quite read her face, for she seemed to be masking her emotions a good deal. But if her voice was anything to go by, then maybe she was getting annoyed by his asking these questions. Or maybe she was being asked questions she didn't want to discuss with him. He wasn't sure which one it was, but he hoped it wasn't the latter. If it was, he was probably just making an enemy with one of his teammates.

After a moment, Rogue spoke up again. "Ah'm from Caldecott County, Mississippi," said Rogue. She waited for a second for Simon to fire off another question, but he merely nodded.

"Where are you from?" she asked him, "Were yah born in Moonriver Falls?"

Simon shook his head. "No, I was born in Seattle. I've moved several times over my life, so I never really was in one spot for a while. But I've lived in the state of Washington my whole life."

"Anything interesting about yah that yah haven't told us about yet?" Rogue asked.

Simon shook his head. "No. I'm not exactly Mr. Incredible or Interesting."

Those weird names got Rogue to chuckle a little bit. Simon really noticed it when she did. She had a hard look most of the time, but when she let it down, it practically transformed her face.

"Rogue, I have a question for you."

"Sure," she responded.

"Do you remember the little confrontation we had back at the docks last night in my home city?" asked Simon.

The bringing up of the fight back at the docks caught Rogue's attention. She had thought that they had all sorted out what went wrong there. After all, Simon had even apologized to them for going crazy on them and firing his energy. She hoped he wasn't trying to over apologize like some kids did. It really grew annoying after a while. "Yeah, I remember that," Rogue admitted, "What about it?"

Simon shifted in his sitting position on the ground under the tree. "Well, when Kurt had me pinned, he asked you to do something to me. And if I remember correctly, you tried to touch my face to do—whatever it was you were going to do. I was wondering what you were going to do."

The worlds made Rogue's heart still for a second. She had thought of this last night. She knew it would happen. Simon was going to ask her about her powers. It was something she really didn't need right now. When did she need it? She had no idea how to say this to him. She didn't want his pity or hearing a remark about how sucky it was to not being able to touch. She hated pity. Even more than not being able to touch.

Hurt was washing over Rogue's face as Simon looked at her. It suddenly occurred to him that he may have brought up something he shouldn't have. Had his tongue slipped on him again? Had he hurt her when he hadn't meant to, as he had done to so many other people in the past? He was about to say she didn't need to answer but Rogue beat him to it.

"Well," she said in a much quieter tone of voice, "I was gonna use mah powers on yah to slow yah down a little.Ah couldn't use them wearing mah gloves so I had to take them off."

Simon looked confused, so, reluctantly, she elaborated. "Whenever ah touch someone else's skin with mah own,ah absorb their memories, life-force, abilities, and if it's a mutant ah absorb their powers."

Simon's look went from confused to a little wondering. "You mean, if had touched me back there, you would have gotten my powers?"

Rogue nodded. "Yeah, but Ifah drain too much, It leaves the person in a coma. And what's worseah can't control it. That's why ah'm all covered up.I can't touch another person without endangering their lives!" The last sentence made her voice buckle a little. It hurt so much to tell people those things. And now came the worst part. Simon would look at her with pity in his eyes and say "sorry" to her.

The silence stretched. Simon looked at Rogue after hearing her words. But no pity came to his eyes. He looked away from her for a second. "I…didn't realize that," he said. Rogue was surprised to hear no pity in Simon's voice only, understanding.

"But what do ya mean?" asked Rogue, suddenly confused by this event. She suddenly felt a little angry. Simon couldn't be mocking her, but who the hell was he to say that he understood. No one could unless they actually experienced it. "I don't think yah could understand to have powers like this, powers that could hurt someone if yah aren't too careful," her voice was starting to crack from emotion.

"You'd be surprised," answered Simon in low and even voice, but filled with sincerity.

Rogue froze at that. What did he mean? Why? He couldn't have said that just to cheer her up. Something else was going on. But what was it? But she was also caught off guard by the fact that Simon looked flustered and a little guilty as she aid the words, as if he had had some actual experience in that sort of way.She was about to ask him what he meant by that when she heard a voice in her head.

"_Students, could you all please me in the Rec Room at this time? We have some things to discuss with you all_." She knew immediately who was speaking. It was Xavier, she knew that voice anywhere, even if it was inside her head. But Simon looked startled and was looking around wildly. "Relax," assured Rogue, getting up to stand, "It was the professor."

"Does he do that a lot?" asked Simon, calming a little.

"Some, but yah never really get used to it. Now c'mon, weh better go see what's up."

"Sounds good to me." The two then left to go inside.


	14. The Danger Room

**Hello folks. Sorry with the long delay, but I've been tied down with my work at college. I hope you all are still interested in this fic in spite of the pace it's been going at. I'm hoping to fix that though. Anyway, for those of you who have wanted to see Raiden in the Danger Room, look no further. This chapter has that! Anyway, on with the story!

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**Chapter 13**

**The Danger Room**

All the X-Men and New Mutants were gathered in the Rec Room, which made the room pretty packed. Everyone was seated, either in chairs and on sofas or simply sitting on the floor. Xavier had told everyone he had to give them all a big announcement and everyone was anxious to know what it was. Hopefully it wasn't anything bad, like a major issue with Magneto, who for some reason hadn't done anything big to them over the past couple of months, or a report of anew member who had powers that defied the known limits of mutant abilities like Wanda Maximoff, the insanely powerful Scarlet Witch.

There was no real order in how people seated themselves. Everyone sat where they wanted to, and that was how they liked it. All the X-Men, all the New Mutants were there and they patiently waited for this major announcement that Professor X had to give them. It was then that Professor Xavier, Logan, Ororo, and Hank came in, the four faculty members of institute.

Everyone was conversing with each other, so Charles spoke up to get everyone to quiet down. "Alright everyone," said Xavier, "Settle down. Settle down." After a few moments, everyone had quieted down enough so that Xavier could be heard. "Alright everyone," said the professor, "I've summoned you all here because we have some important matters to discuss. Matters regarding what we will be doing in regards to training over the duration of this two week-long spring break from school."

Scott and Jean couldn't help but notice how a couple of the new recruits let their faces fall with a sense of disappointment, especially Bobby, Tabitha, Jubilee, and Roberto, who happened to be the most spunky, and the most mischievous of all the New Mutants. Scott, for one, found it humorous to see the mischief-makers get a little disappointment in return for all the annoyances that they caused around the mansion, usually on a daily basis. He'd lost his temper with them more than once in the past, but they seemed to shrug it off like yesterday's news. Maybe losing time to cause trouble would be a more effective approach to this.

"I think the professor hit a soft spot," Scott whispered to Jean, who sat beside him with his hand on her shoulder.

Jean smiled at him with he loving curve of her lips he just couldn't get enough of. "I think they'd be better off training that icing up the floors or rigging sandwiches with explosives." She winked at him.

Scott smiled in response and winked back, even though he knew his red shades would block it from her sight.

"Now," Xavier went on with his little announcement, "you all have two weeks ahead where there will be no school to occupy your time, myself and the rest of the faculty have decided that an increase in training is in order."

There were several groans at this from the new recruits, but none of the senior X-Men did any. Simon noticed this and turned to Rogue with some curiosity. "Do the younger kid around here not like to train?" he asked her.

Rogue merely nodded before replying. "Oh, yeah," she said simply and left it at that. Simon needed no further information. Most young kids he'd been around preferred to have fun rather that do important things. He suddenly realized that all kids in their mid-teenage years were more alike than not, regardless of whether or not they had an X-gene.

"But, we're improving, Professor," protested Bobby, "We're doin' just fine! We don't need the extra training!"

Logan looked at Bobby with a look of skepticism. "Yeah, so ya can use the time to ice up even more floors and showers, kid? I don't think so."

Logan was giving Bobby his penetrating predator gaze, the one that was like an actual wolverine eyeing its prey in the Arctic wilderness.

"But we can do just fine the way we're going now, Badger!" this other protest came from Tabitha.

Logan was about to respond, but Hank beat him to it, hoping to prevent Logan's Spartan personality kicking into the old army drill sergeant mode once again. "We think that since you're all growing up nice and quickly as you put it, that you can use this time to do more beneficial, more constructive activities."

Xavier wheeled himself closer to the students, hoping that they would take it as a sign he was going to speak. And they did, for everyone's eyes rested on him. "For the next couple of weeks, we're going to doing some special training sessions every other day. I do believe that several of you," he motioned to the New Mutants, "have been hoping for the chance to prove how capable you are in the field." Xavier gave a smile at that, knowing that that was indeed the truth. And seconds later, a couple of the new recruits spoke up.

"You mean we're actually gonna use the Danger Room?" asked Ray, sounding a little excited for it. Ray Crisp was a bit of a hot head, but was always ready for a chance to prove himself.

"Let me put it this way," said Xavier, "Starting tomorrow, and every other day after that, both the X-Men and the New Mutants will be holding training sessions together at the same time, and as one unit."

A lot of people's eyebrows rose at the mention of that. Some, like Amara and Sam, looked uncertain, for they were not entirely sure where they stood with their powers. The more enthusiastic ones however seemed excited and were already making assumptions.

"But, what if we're not ready for it?" asked Amara, sounding a little unsure.

"Oh c'mon Mara," said Tabitha, smiling at her friend, "We gotta get our groove on, show 'em some girl power!"

"One purpose of this new trial run is to see which of the New Mutants are ready to shoulder more responsibility and duty here at the institute. I've noticed that some of you are rather spirited, but lacking in your self-discipline. If you show considerable improvement and discipline in this runs, I will look into increasing your ranks here."

"Are you going to move any of us up to the X-Men?" asked Roberto, sounding eager.

"Not yet," said Xavier, "another reason for this new system is to see which of you are ready to begin advancing through the ranks towards the X-Men. But until we've done this for a while, I am making no further decisions."

"So when do we start?" This was the most edger sounding voice yet, and it was coming from Jamie Madrox, the youngest of everyone present. That got him a look of discouragement from several of the older New Mutants, Berserker and Iceman. "Forget it, Jamie," said Ray, looking cross, or at least trying to and doing a mocking job of it, "You can't handle it!"

"Hey!" Jamie shot back at him, trying his best to look formidable, "He said all of us and that means me too!" He was starting to get angry. The others were treating him like a little kid while they considered themselves the top of the food chain. When were they going to stop that and be supporting like good teammate were supposed to be?

"Yeah?" asked Bobby in a skeptical tone, "Since when?"

"Since a long time ago!"

"Sorry, Jamie, no rough housing with the big kids!" Jubilee jumped it, adding even more pressure to Jamie's already stressed mood.

Simon was watching the whole exchange, and could see how upset Jamie was. He considered leaping in and telling the others to back off, but he held himself back. He'd leapt into situations that weren't his business in the past and that often got him into trouble and embarrassment. That was last thing he wanted, to make himself look like an idiot in front of the entire institute.

"All right, that's enough," said Ororo calmly, hoping to avert a verbal battle.

"Now," Xavier talked up again, "Today, we'll be doing some basic training. The X-Men have a Danger Room training session in one hour, and the New Mutants have one hour of training with Hank after that. Be sure you're all ready by then." With that, Xavier wheeled back towards his other three teachers.

Across the room, Simon looked at Kitty and Kurt, who were sitting close together. Not in the romantic sense, but as good friends. "Why were those others blowing Jamie off like that?" asked Simon, gesturing to Ray, Jubilee, and Bobby.

Kitty let out a sigh. "It's sort of a tradition for them," said Kitty, "They exclude Jamie from almost everything because he's the youngest of the new recruits. It's like, totally a daily thing around here."

"They do that in everything?" asked Simon, not liking the sound that.

"Everyzhing," confirmed Kurt in a serious tone, "Even movie vatching."

Simon was about to comment on that when Logan's voice interrupted his thoughts. "Hey, kid." The Canadian's gruff voice snatched Simon out of his thoughts in an instant. He snapped his head around until he located the provider of the message.

"Huh?"

"Yer trainin' with the X-Men starts today. Be ready in one hour." Simon's eyes widened with surprise and his mouth dropped open, a look that Logan found amusing. He gave Simon a wolfish smirk, one that meant he was about to push someone to the limits. The others noticed it as well, and could tell Simon was going to get his first taste of Wolverine-style training.

"But, Mr. Logan," protested Simon, "Don't you have a "brand new" team or "beginners" group here? I don't think I'm ready to start training with the senior students."

Scott was somewhat surprised at Simon's reaction. Most students here would have jumped for the chance to be with the X-Men in a training session. Yet, Simon was trying to avoid it. Why was that? What was going through that guy's mind? The New Mutants were looking at Simon with confused looks. He was being offered a chance to train up there with the big leagues and was hesitating? What was his problem?

"The Prof thought it over," Logan responded, "And he decided that the best place for ya is to train is with us. And if he says that you can handle it, you can."

"Handle?" it sounded to Simon like he would barely make it through when that word was used. "Pardon me for saying so, Logan, but did it ever occur to you that I have no experience with powers whatsoever? I really think I shouldn't….."

"Look," Logan gave Simon his no-nonsense-no-arguing-with me-anymore look, the one he used to make sure people got his message didn't object anymore, "Chuck decided yer better off with the X-Men. If you make it, you make it. If ya don't, you'll get moved. End of discussion. Now go get into yer uniform and report to the Danger Room in one hour." With that, Logan turned and left the room before another word could be exchanged.

Simon could only shake his head. He didn't like the sound of Danger Room. He hadn't the faintest idea of what the room was, but it sounded uneasy for him.

He made a mental note not to argue with Logan anymore in the future. From the sound of his codename, Simon had a feeling that an angry Logan was not a safe thing to have around. He'd read up on wolverines for a school report and had learned they were dangerous predators, despite their relatively small size compared to other animals. A codename carried with it a representation of the bearer, and a "wolverine" made him think of a dangerous fighter in battle.

Scott and Jean noticed Simon's look and walked over to him. Scott placed his hand on Simon's shoulder. "You okay?" he asked, "You look a little tense there."

"Scott," Simon said slowly, "I need to ask a question."

"Sure. Ask away."

"This training you do, is this training really training or is it military-style boot camp?"

Jean chuckled at that remark as Scott smiled. "You really gotta expect some hard stuff from Logan, Simon" Scott told his teammate, giving him a smile of knowledge, "He's a man of high expectations. He goes by extreme steam and high try. The term "easy" isn't really in his vocabulary."

"So this IS boot camp then," Simon decided out loud, "As in train until you're ready to drop dead."

Jean and Scott couldn't contain their chuckle at that. Nor could Kitty or Kurt. "You really got to stop worrying, Simon," said Kitty, giggling at Simon's worried expression, "You're starting to sound paranoid, which I personally think will give you some major problems."

Simon looked at her with defiance in his eyes. "Sometimes, Miss. Smarty Pants, being aware can keep you from getting into serious pickles."

"Or give you an ulcer," Jean retaliated, looking confident in her answer. Kitty and Kurt laughed even harder.

Simon couldn't think of comeback on that one. He decided to let it go.

"Trust me, mein fruend," said Kurt, "The Danger Room iz alvays scary on the first time. But it'z az normal as a gymnasium after you get used to it." The first thing Simon wanted to do was deny what the fuzzy elf said, but the logic was infallible. The first session of anything was always the hardest. After that, it got easier and easier.

How comforting," said Simon sarcastically, "Okay. Got it. Next question. Where's my uniform?"

"It's in your room," said Scott, automatically, "The Prof put it out on your bed just this morning."

"Then I guess I better go get ready," said Simon, and walked off to change into his uniform. The rest of the Senior X-Men, Scott, Jean, Kitty, Kurt, Evan, and Rogue also left, leaving the New Mutants to themselves. The conversing started the instant the X-Men left to go change, the main topic of which was the new training sessions.

"It's about time we get to train with the others," said Roberto, "We can really show them what we're made of."

"You said it," agreed Ray, "It'll nice to show them some real mutant power is."

"Yeah, but remember last time," said Sam, thinking back to where they tried to do the Danger Room on their own, "We came out of there trashed and torn."

Ray, Bobby, and Jubilee thought on that, but pushed it aside, remembering the real reason for it. "Yeah, well, we could have done better if a certain Multiple hadn't messed it up," Bobby looked at Jamie dangerously, a hint of aggression in his eyes.

"You know," Ray added, looked even more ready to pounce than Bobby, "We never did repay Multiple for that little stunt he pulled on us."

Jamie gulped. He remembered the look they had given him after he had paid them back for giving him the cold shoulder in trying the Danger Room. Lucky for him, they had been too tired to attack him, but this time, he didn't have that to work in his favor.

"Oh, ye leave him alone!" said Rahne, "Ye probably had it coming anyhow!"

Jubilee and Bobby looked at Rahne with a somewhat look of surprise at her outburst and her sudden rush to help Jamie. None of them were actually expecting her to do that. Jubilee, as Rahne's roommate thought she knew all about the little redheaded Scottish girl. But she suddenly reasoned that she hadn't seen all sides of Rahne's personality. She made a mental note to expect the unexpected with Rahne.

"Trust me, Rahne," said Bobby, "If you say the misery he put us through, you'd be anxious to get back at him yourself. Take bite out of him." The last sentence was spoken with some real fierce emotion, and Jamie could really tell how much the others wanted to take bite out of him.

"Besides," said Jubilee, trying to sound reassuring to her friend, "We were only concerned for his safety. We could handle it but he couldn't."

Sam Guthrie, who hadn't really spoken up until, looked surprised at Jubilee's comment. Right now he didn't exactly feel as uptight at Jamie the minute he'd found out it was him who cranked up the Danger Room levels on them. Sam had never really been one to hold a grudge, and this time was included in that.

"Says who?" Jamie challenged, "Since when are you guys ever concerned about my safety. If you were really so concerned about safety, then why'd you try the Danger Room to begin with. I mean, why do you think they call it the 'Danger Room?'" despite being the youngest of the New Mutants, Jamie was usually the most logical of them on certain occasions.

Jubilee looked at her boyfriend. She looked like she was having a mental turmoil with how to overcome Jamie's statement. However, Bobby, ever so confident and proud of being literally the coolest New Mutant, said, "Since when do even know the rules of safety I'd like to know?"

At that, Jamie, brow went more wrinkled than a slept-in sheet and walked out of the room, scowling. Rahne could tell Bobby had pushed the little guy to his limit of tolerance, which was something he was doing more and more of these days. She knew, without a doubt, that whenever someone kept putting down and underestimating a person, that person would catch up to them eventually. And she couldn't wait to see it happen to Bobby. The Scottish lycanthrope gave Iceman a look of disappointment, and then left to go after Jamie.

"Maybe we were a little too harsh on Jamie," suggested Sam, "Rahne did have a point."  
"Oh come on," Ray objected, "Multiple should be thanking us. We're keeping him safe from Danger."

Sam looked at the wild-haired berserker with a look of confusion. What was Ray talking about? Keeping Jamie out of danger while the rest of them rushed into it themselves? Where was the logic in that? If anything, that could indicate they were becoming hypocrites.

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Jamie was steaming. Now, he was boiling under his skin with anger. Time and time again the others had left him out simply because he was the youngest. Then were they going to get the message and let him be one of them instead of the kid of the group. He'd thought about it over and over. Maybe it was his powers that were a factor included. He would not have been surprised if it was. He'd often thought of having a cooler power than simply making a 3D mirror image of himself to look at that could move on its own. Duplication was the lamest power on the block. Even a limited from of telepathy would have sounded more appealing than multiplying. He'd often wished to have powers like Scott's, Kurt's, even Evan's. But when would that happen? Like never. 

And of course, there was the fact of whom they had done it in front of. Simon. They had a new guy here, and he had found of how Jamie was treated her because of his age, and possibly his incredibly weak and useless power, on his very first day as an X-Man. What was next? A banner saying, "Jamie is the youngest, so don't include him?" Jamie would not have been surprised if Simon thought that. He hoped against hope he didn't. Jamie had known Simon had seen it, for he had heard him whispering questions about it to the others. The other New Mutants were making putting him down something of a display for all to see, and Simon had been their first customer, even if it was involuntary.

"Jamie?" a girl's voice colored by a Scottish accent reached Jamie's ears, snapping his frustrated thoughts out of his head. He turned to see that the girl was, not surprisingly, Rahne. The accent was pretty much a dead giveaway, much like Kurt's was when you heard him speak behind you.

"Oh, uh-hi Rahne," said Jamie in greeting, silently cursing himself for his slight stutter at the beginning. He wasn't even sure why that stutter was there to begin with. "What's up?"

Rahne looked at him with concern in her green eyes. "I saw ye was upset by the way they wuir treating ye," explained Rahne, "I hope ye weren't too upset by it."

Jamie was a little caught off guard by her words. For more than one reason too. Most of the others here had seen him get treated like the little kid of the group, which he absolutely believed now. He'd been the "little kid" from day one. The grownups had made sure he wasn't in too strong battle simulations, for they were concerned with his safety. However, they were genuine in their concerns. The others however seemed to enjoy making him feel weak. He'd heard it so much that he was actually starting to believe it.

"I'm just so fed up with them treating me like a wimpy little kid! They do that to me every single time I try to join in. EVERY SINGLE TIME!" Jamie all but spat the words out like a foul-tasting glob of bad food, which gave Rahne a crystal clear message to how he felt.

She gave Jamie a sympathetic look. "I understand how ye feel," she said kindly to him, "But ye really shouldn't let what they say get to ye. Yuir better than that."

Oh, how much Jamie wanted to believe those words. It was hard however, he'd learned that. Jamie had heard many times before that sometimes the best source of encouragement was from within one's own self. But there was the thing with outside encouragement. It was so much more influencing and powerful if it came from outside. It showed others had faith in you, not just yourself. The more people that had faith in you, the more confident you became.

"DO you really think so?" asked Jamie, feeling his face grow a little warm with the attention Rahne was giving him. He hoped she wouldn't notice.

"Aye know ye would do great things to make them eat thuir words," said Rahne, referring to Ray, Bobby, and Jubilee. She smiled a friendly smile.

Rahne could fully relate to what Jamie was feeling. She was youngest of all the girls of the institute, and that gave her first-hand knowledge of what that was like. There were times when she wanted to join in a few things the other girls were doing, but she'd been turned down. That had only happened once or twice, but it had happened nonetheless. Jamie, however, go the real rotten side of the coin. Things were so much more rotten when males, in all their arrogant natures, made it seem like a game where there were no rules. She had never experienced that, but she understood it.

"I just hope that Professor Xavier and Logan give me a chance this time," said Jamie, "I think I've been left behind in the dust too long."

"Well, Aye hope ye do to," Rahne responded. She wasn't sure, but she could have sworn she saw Jamie's cheeks go the faintest shade of pink. She wasn't entirely sure, but it could have been a blush of sorts.

"Well," Jamie said, finding the attempt to keep the stutter out of his voice surprisingly difficult, "Thanks, Rahne. I feel much better now. Thanks for saying that. I really appreciate it."

Rahne smiled her warm smile again, her large green eyes displaying the same "you're welcome" message as her lips. "Yuir welcome," she said unnecessarily, but it only added positive effect. With that, she left and went off to do her own thing.

Most of the anger at the others had left Jamie, and now he was feeling better. At least someone around here had faith in him. Rahne Sinclair did. And it really made a difference. He vowed to himself once more that he would make sure he would make the others eat their woods. Maybe even Rahne would encourage them.

As he thought of Rahne, he started to think different thoughts about her. She was a fearless, energetic girl, always ready to do things and have fun, which made her a great friend. But still, those big green eyes, soothing smile, and lovely red hair of hers. It really made her beautiful.

Wait. What was he thinking? They were friends. Where was there room in that for romance? What if it destroyed their friendship? He couldn't risk that. But still, those beautiful green eyes, and lovely red hair.

* * *

The first thing Simon did once he was inside his room once again after leaving the meeting about the training session was to look for the uniform Scott had mentioned to him just minutes beforehand. Uniform was a word he'd never associated with before with this school. But if training was involved, as Professor Xavier, Logan, and the others had referred to so many times, then maybe the uniform was simply the kind of uniform used to let everyone one know what team he was a member of. 

Upon Simon's bed rested a medium-sized box, typical of the type clothes were stored in after being tailored. Simon crossed his room opened the box. He looked inside to see a neatly folded uniform waiting to be worn. Simon couldn't tell what exactly the uniform looked like and guessed he would have to wear it find out. Simon took the suit out of its box, and then undressed himself and pulled on his X-Men uniform. After that was done, he went to his mirror to see.

The uniform was a form-fitting suit, jet black all over, except for a large navy blue patch that covered his shoulders and chest and ended in point over his solar plexus like an upside down triangle. A bright yellow belt with a buckle that displayed a black X on a red background secured it around his waist. The shoulders bore two yellow triangular pads that presented the same logo as his belt. Knee-high crimson red boots and navy blue gloves completed the outfit.

_Not bad_, thought Simon. He let out a small laugh, finding his uniform better looking than he had expected. _Not bad at all_.

Backing away from the mirror, Simon tried a few of the moves he'd learned over the years in martial arts to see how his costume moved with him. He tired some uppercuts, a few flying and roundhouse kicks, and even some quick rounds of tai chi. The suit moved gracefully with him, never chafing or rubbing, allowing free and total movement, and was as comfy as could be. He took one last look in the mirror, over his shoulder to see how he looked from behind. He noticed that the back of his uniform had the same navy-blue shape as the front.

Simon then left to go in search of the Danger Room. Simon suddenly wondered, for about the umpteenth time, as to why the Danger Room was called the Danger Room. It sort of reminded him of the term "funhouse" which was called a funhouse because it was so much "fun" inside. But Simon didn't exactly like the kind of feeling the word "danger" put into his system.

As Simon walked through the hallway away from his room, he suddenly realized that he didn't know where the Danger Room was. He'd seen the upstairs and lower levels enough to have pretty good idea of where rooms and main areas were, but he hadn't set foot in the technologically enhanced levels, such as the hanger bay and such, since his arrival the night before. He had to go find someone who could point him in the right direction.

However, his idea had him reluctant. Simon liked to be the kind of person of the self-sustaining kind. Relying on anyone other than himself was something he tried to avoid as much as possible, for he'd had trouble trusting others except for those he knew very well.

Simon had just rounded a corner when he ran into a most unexpected sight. Professor Xavier was coming from around the corner, straight down the corridor to some unknown location. Simon froze in his tracks to avoid bumping into the Professor where he sat.

"Professor!" Simon said in slight surprise, "I didn't see you there."

Xavier merely smiled warmly at Simon's surprised expression. "That alright, Simon. That wasn't the first time I've had someone accidentally almost run into me in the hallway."

It was amazing how Xavier's warmness could make a person feel better. Simon felt his embarrassment leave him immediately and he straightened himself out. The professor seemed to take notice of Simon wearing his uniform. "I see you found the uniform I placed in you room," said Xavier pointedly, gesturing to Simon's outfit.

"Yeah," acknowledged Simon, "I'm really liking' the suit." He spoke the last part with sincerity.

"Well, I had hoped you would find it satisfactory enough," said Xavier, smiling "I had that uniform designed specifically for you in relation to your powers."

Relation? To powers? How the hell did that apply to a costume? A costume was a costume was a costume. What did powers have to do with it? Simon's brow furrowed.

"What do you mean?" asked Simon, sounding confused.

"That uniform," Xavier elaborated to Simon, "is constructed of a material composed of unstable molecules. It will help when you use your powers and change your physical structure into either your energized state or armored form."

Simon still didn't get it, for he'd never imagined a fabric made up of unstable molecules. "I'm afraid I still do get it," he said.

"Well, Simon," said Xavier, "I'm sure you know that you have the ability to change your bodily tissue into a form of matter." When Simon nodded, Xavier went on. "Well, you're not the only one here who can do that. A few of the New Mutants, Iceman, Magma, and Wolfsbane, can do that as well. Because their forms change when they use their powers, I designed a special fabric made of unstable molecules that would be altered along with themselves when they used their powers. Since you can do the same, I made a uniform for you out of the same substance."

Okay. Simon was really starting to get confused now, mainly by what the professor was talking about in the terms of the three New Mutants he just mentioned. What forms was he talking about? He made a mental note to ask the Prof about that later on. As for the unstable molecules part, how did that help?

"I take it you're wondering how to get to the Danger Room, Simon?" Xavier told his new student, sounding like it was a normal everyday thing.

Simon's eyebrows shot to his brow, surprised that the professor had figured out what his problem was so fast. For a moment, he felt like accusing the professor of reading his mind without permission, but stopped himself in time, remembering Xavier say he never entered another's thoughts without permission.

"Yeah," answered the blond-haired teen, "I'm kinda lost here. I don't suppose you could show me the way?"

"Certainly," said Xavier kindly, "In fact, I was on my way there right now."

"How come?"

"As headmaster of the institute," Xavier explained, "I must oversee the training sessions, both while they're being prepared and also when their underway. I can give the students advice and also monitor their progress. Now, come with me and I'll show you the way."

Xavier then turned and wheeled his wheelchair down the hallway, Simon following behind him. In a minute, they came to a small elevator that was like the kind one finds in an office building. Simon couldn't see any buttons on the wall to open it, but then he spotted a pad that looked roughly the size and shape of a human hand. What was that for?

Xavier pressed his hand flat against the panel, and then a red-lighted line traveled up and down it, then the light next to it turned green. At that same instant, the doors opened. Simon was kind of surprised to see that the elevators here used handprint codes to unlock them. This mansion had more security than he previously thought.

"Please," Xavier motioned to the inside of the elevator, wheeling himself in. Simon joined him. Once they were inside, the elevator started to move.

As the transport moved downward into the more secretive levels of the institute, Simon came to a realization that he should have come to earlier. He was going to be taught to use his powers. In actual combat. With real danger, real opponents, real scenarios that could result in a no-win situation where someone could be hurt or worse. And to be honest, he was very uncertain. And a little afraid.

Ever since Simon had seen the beams of blue electricity those years ago, nothing could have shocked him more than that. Nothing. All those times he spent away from his house and other people, high in the mountains in secluded forests, was so he could get his head together in all that. And there was also the part of him using his powers away from human eyes, trying to understand it more.

But Simon had always been afraid of his powers raging out of control in view of the public. He didn't want other people to see him using them, even if he was saving their lives. They would see him as a freak, for sure. Who in their right mind would want to have a guy who was like a walking nuclear laser cannon around? Then again, who would want to BE a walking nuclear laser cannon

Now here he was, about to use his powers openly in a school where using mutant powers was as ordinary as doing homework. Simon was uneasy about that, his apprehension growing with every step he took. He'd told himself over and over not to use his powers unless he could do it without being seen. And now he felt like he was breaking his own first law. Would he be able to pull this off, like others had undoubtedly done many times? Or would he lose control of his powers and hurt the others students or something even worse?

Professor Xavier's psionic powers gave him a clear feeling of Simon's emotions. The feelings of uncertainty, apprehension, and confusion were as plain as the nose on his face. Xavier could sense that Simon was uneasy about the Danger Room. Most all his students had felt that way before their first session. However, Simon seemed a little more so. It would have been easy to enter his mind and see why. However, it would have been a violation of privacy. So he simply asked the question.

"Are you alright, Simon?" asked Xavier, "You seem anxious."

Simon turned his head to face Xavier as they continued down towards the Danger Room. Simon had thought that he could hide his emotions if he kept his "mask" up. He had tried to, but Xavier could still sense it. Was he becoming transparent in that way? No. This was a telepath here. He had said he could sense emotions of others. He realized that trying to hide your emotions around this guy would be impossible to do.

"Only a little," said Simon, cursing himself for his slight pause before he responded, which was a sign he was more nervous than he was letting on.

Xavier looked at his new student, and could tell he was trying to hide something. The penetrating gaze Simon saw on the professor's face was enough to make you think he could read your mid even if he wasn't a telepath.

"Okay," Simon gave in, "I-I don't feel right about using my powers. I mean-sure I can do some non-harmful things with them, but for the most part, I either destroy something or make a real mess of things when I use them. This is the first time I'm gong to be using them outright."

Anxiety and confusion were clear in Simon's voice, and Xavier didn't even have to use his telepathy to detect it at all. It laced every word Simon said. "I understand your feelings, Simon" said Xavier, "but try to understand, we're only doing this so that we can learn how to help you. Each of our students has needed unique help with their powers, considering how different their powers are from another's. And we need to know how to help you as well."

"I'm not sure I understand," said Simon.

"Simon," said Xavier, "I'm sure you know that I chose to place you on the senior team here at the institute?" Simon nodded. "I did that because I thought it was the best place for you here. However, you must understand that you will have to have rather extensive training in order to become accustomed to senior X-Man responsibility and duty. It will not be easy, but we will all be here to help you. Once you've completed this session, we will then figure out how to proceed. Now, you had better join the others, they're waiting for you." Xavier gestured towards something and Simon noticed that they were in front of a massive metal door, above which it read DANGER ROOM in large red letters.

Simon looked at the big doors with apprehension. Goodness knew what lay behind them. It was a surprise in the biggest of boxes. Simon had never liked surprises, but he had long figured out that with the X-Men, surprises were going to be a daily thing to deal with.

The blond teenager took a deep breath, and then the doors opened, allowing him to step inside. Simon Valley would not be his name for the next hour or so. Now he was Raiden.

* * *

Scott, Jean, Kurt, Kitty, Evan, and Rogue were all standing in a group inside the Danger Room, awaiting their latest member to join them. All of them were dressed in their uniforms and ready to rock. They had been informed earlier that the Danger Room had been given some major modifications over the last few weeks, adding some new programs and features that Professor X thought could help them prepare for their fights with the enemy even more than before. What they would be going through today would be some sort of run where they would have to deal with hindering obstacles along the way. However, their instructors had not mentioned what kind they were, traps of massive proportions or mobile drones agile enough to avoid their attacks 

"Where's Simon?" asked Kitty, "He, like, should have been here by now."

"Professor Xavier just sent me a message that he's coming in a few seconds," said Jean, "He just wanted to give some a few words before he had his first session. Nothing bad or anything. Just a little side-tracked."

Standing tall and confident in his uniform, Scott Summers was more than ready for whatever the professor or Logan had to throw at him. The large yellow X on his muscular chest marked him as a true X-Man, the first of them all. Scott was anything but the average teen for he spent hours training in the Danger Room when he wasn't slammed with schoolwork or cramming for quizzes. And the fact that he was going to have a new member on his squad, well, that would spice it up even more. Challenges were something he welcomed

Rather than wondering about the team, Rogue was wondering how she herself was going to get through this. There were the occasional times, no, many times, that she wished she had more than simply her absorption power to rely on in training sessions. All things considered, her powers really were great tools for turning the odds in the X-Men's favor in battle against other mutants, for she could fell an opponent and juice herself up with the fallen mutant's powers.

But, in the Danger Room, she couldn't really do that unless she felled one of her own, something she hated doing regardless of circumstance. She often felt like an ordinary human training high-tech boot camp style in the Danger Room. Maybe if she had some extra weapons in her arsenal, she could feel more secure and able. But Fate had spit on her from day one of her life. She had the most screwed up powers on the block easily.

"Ah hope Logan doesn't go all deadly and lethal on us," said the southern Goth, "Weh can't really do better if he kills us all."

"No kiddin'," said Kurt, "But I don't think he'd really do zhat to us."

"You should talk," grumbled Evan, "I'm a city kid, not some street fighter. I really think Aunty O and the Prof should let me use my skateboard on this one"

Scott and Jean looked at Evan with a non-believing look. "Not a street fighter?" asked Scott sarcastically, "That doesn't fit with what you pulled on Simon the other night. You looked like you were enjoying fighting when you weren't even supposed to be doing it."

Evan looked at the field leader, who was standing with his arms crossed. "Well," Evan stuttered, remembering the long chat he had been given about that with Xavier and a week of extra chores for not following Scott's orders, "I just got carried away."

"Yeah, like you do on every other mission we go on or training session we do," said Kitty.

Before anyone could comment on that, the doors the Danger Room opened and Simon walked in. Since he was the last to arrive, everyone turned to see him. Simon tried to focus his sights on something other that the gazes of the other X-Men, but found it hard. Having many eyes on him always made him antsy to some degree.

, "Sorry I'm late," Simon announced, "I got a little side-tracked."

"Ve vere hoping you vould be here," said Kurt, sounding teasing.

"Hey, nice suit," said Kitty, eyeing Simon's attire, "Does this mean you're an X-Man and not with the New Mutants?"

All Simon did was shrug. "I suppose. I think I'll know for certain once this session is over," he replied.

"You didn't blow anything up by accident did you?" remarked Evan, chuckling. However, when Evan saw the disproving looks the others were giving him, he stopped. He then looked at the person who was the object of his remark, who looked even more displeased than the others did. "I'd appreciate it if you kept your cracks about my powers to yourself if you don't mind," Simon said coldly in a soft and dangerous tone, his face saying "watch what you say about me around me."

Evan smiled sheepishly and shrugged. "Sorry, man. Just slipped." A few of the others groaned.

Rogue was taking a minute to check out Simon in his uniform. She couldn't help but notice how the spandex suit displayed his athletic, well-built body, indicating he really kept himself in shape.

Simon had taken the opportunity to scope out the others in their uniforms, seeing that each of them had their own unique style. Simple yet stylish. He liked that sort of attire. But when he saw Scott's uniform, he was really attracted to the visor Scott was wearing. The golden frame holding it in place looked like real gold, and the single lens looked like it was a sheet of ruby. Simon suddenly saw the visor looked like a single, glowing, crimson eye, like that of a true, one-eyed Cyclops.

"Radical shades, Scott," Simon commented, eyeing the unique eyewear.

A remark like that was something that Scott was not expecting from Simon. Usually, he was hassled about his shades. "Thanks," thanked Scott, "Well actually this is my battle visor. It's what I use in battle. I never wear it in daily life."

"Ah," responded Simon, "Now I know why they call you 'Cyclops.' Because that visor looks like a single eye."

"Got it in one," said Scott, smiling.

After diverting his attention from Scott, Simon couldn't help but take the opportunity to check out Rogue in her uniform. When he had seen Rogue for the first time in her black pants and shoulder-less purple top the other night, he had though she looked shapely and attractive. But her uniform was something totally different. In the form-fitting suit, she looked as sleek as an otter. Every curve of her body was perfectly displayed by the tight material. He would have looked a few more moments, but he quickly diverted his gaze so that she couldn't catch him staring. After all, he was here to train, not to just look.

"Okay, squirts," Logan's voice suddenly echoed through the Danger Room like a bear's roar, "We're gonna run a level 4 sim here, so be sure do be on yer guard. We're gonna do a sim with combat drones in a hostile landscape, so get ready for some tough terrain and no-man's land examples. Your goal is to get everyone to the end before the six-minute time limit is up." Logan sounded slightly amused, which the others, except Simon, knew that he was looking forward to seeing them struggle through this new scenario. Few things amused Logan more than seeing his students struggle and come out exhausted and tired from over exertion.

After hearing the raging Logan speak as if amused by a clown, Simon looked over at Scott who he saw was standing without the slightest bit of fear. "Hey, Scott," asked Simon, "What does Logan mean by 'combat drones?'"

"There's going to be machines that have snare lines and paintball shooters," said Scott, "We sometimes train with paintball shooters before we actually use real energy blasters."

Simon thought on that. He was relieved that they would use paint bullets, but the mention of actual lasers later on made him slightly uneasy. But he pushed that away. "Oh, and Simon," Scott's voice reached his ears again, "remember, we're in a training session now, so remember to use codenames and not our real names."

The codename rule flared back into Simon's mind. Had he forgotten that rule already? So many things to remember as an X-Man. He was glad that he had asked everyone his or her codenames earlier that day, for he didn't want to mess up in that way during a session.

Just then, as everyone suddenly noticed, the room around them shimmered and shifted, as it water-like ripples were engulfing the entire environment. Then, the whole scene changed from a futuristic seeming gladiator's arena into what looked, for goodness sake, like a barren landscape filled with purplish rocks and soaring scarps and landforms. Overhead, purple pink clouds floated across a dimly lit sky like cotton candy.

"This is a holographic environment," Jean explained to Simon, seeing his surprised face, "The professor uses this sort of thing in many of our training programs."

Simon never got the chance to guess on that, for just then a group of flying drones suddenly came flying towards them from the sky. They looked like flying metallic spheres, with weird protrusions that looked like spider legs coming out of them. Some were simply blunt ended and others were tipped in what looked like grappling hooks and claws. They came on quickly, and once they were in range of the X-Men, the drone started firing.

The X-Men scattered as the first hail of paint bullets rained down from above. Everyone managed to avoid getting hit as the paint volleys splattered the ground, dotting it with messy orange smears.

Scott, his battle instincts already in full throttle, was the first to react. After rolling off to the side and then regaining his equilibrium in a kneeling position, he pressed his fingers to the activation button on his visor. A tremendous blast of ruby red energy fired from Scott's eyes, striking the drone dead center. The blast blew the drone apart, tearing it up like it was tissue paper, pieces of wreckage raining down to the ground.

_Hmm. He'd be a handful at an optometrist appointment_, Simon thought as he saw Scott use his powers.

The seven mutants quickly regrouped as the remaining drones came swooshing around for another attack. The group let loose another round of paint bullets, the orange pellets darting towards the targets. Jean however, was ready, and immediately raised her fingers to her temples and shut her eyes tightly. Half a second later, her psychic energies formed a formidable psionic force field around herself and her teammates. The paint pellets splashed as they hit the shield, which was as strong as any titanium steel barrier.

As Jean kept the pellets from reaching them, Evan raise his arms and shot his spikes at two of the drones. The pointed spear-like tips of the spikes punctured the drones' metallic casing with ease and then came out the other side of them, leaving a smoking gaping hole in their main bodies. The two impaled drones fell, the damage taking them out of the fight.

"Come on, Raiden," Scott suddenly called out to Simon, who seemed to be trying to figure out what to do. Simon looked at Scott when he heard his X-Man name. "We're in training now," Scott told him over the sounds of the drones and the ruckus of the damage, "This is about learning how to use our abilities. You have powers too. Use them," Scott told him as he took another shot at the flying drones.

That was all Simon needed to hear. Looking up at the flying groups of drones, firing away with their guns, Simon's eyes and hands glowed blue with fiery power. Reaching out with both hands, he unleashed a beam. The beam hit its target, creating a large fiery explosion that destroyed the targeted drone as well as the two next to it, the shockwave of the intense blast pushing three of the other drones away. Cyclops and Spike took the provided opportunity to take the remaining ones out with a few spikes and optic blasts, turning the machines into smoking scrap metal or computer chip shish kabob.

Simon saw that the explosion that beam caused was a little larger than he had expected. He needed to use something less deadly until his skills were higher. _I better keep the power levels lower for the time being until I get a better hang of things_, he thought to himself.

"That groups down," Scott called out to everyone, "let's get a move on before more show up." With that, Scott turned and started to take off down the purplish canyons and stalagmite-like rock spines protruding from the ground. Jean was immediately behind him, and the others soon came to it as well, everyone running towards the end point, edger to get there before the timer reached zero.

"Incoming!" Evan suddenly shouted, pointing up at the sky. The others looked to see another swarm of flying drones hovering in the air and gliding down to target them. Three of the drones already had their guns up and aimed, and once they were in range, the volleys started flying.

Kitty and Kurt were out of Jean's range, and Jean found herself too far away from people to use her psychic shield. Kitty immediately used her powers to get hit, but yet at the same time, not get hit. The molecules of her body shifted through the spaces between those of the bullets, which was like the bullets passing through thin air. The bullets hit their target, but Kitty was not even touched by them.

Kurt, as usual, did his trick of in-the-blink-of-an-eye transportation. He bamfed out of the way, and quickly dodged the bullets, leaving the drones confused as to why their target suddenly vanished without a trace.

Scott let loose an optic blast at one drone, sending it to the junkyard for serious repairs. As more paint pellets flew, he used his blasts to shoot them out before they struck.

Jean quickly erected one of her telekinetic shields to stop the bullets from reaching her, then she quickly used her telekinesis to seize two drones in powerful fields of psychic power. Holding the two in solid grips, Jean then clapped her hands together, and the two drones held in her powers did the same. The two drones crumbled and dented as they collided with each other, crushing under the stress like tin cans, and then they fell.

But as before, even more drones popped up to replace the ones fallen in battle. They came on with their guns up and firing away. "Man, these things just keep coming and coming," Simon commented.

"Well what did yah expect?" asked Rogue, giving him a look and knowing smile.

After seeing that look, Simon mentally kicked himself. "Do I really need to answer that?" he asked her.

Rogue's grin grew wider.

Out of the corner of his eye, Simon saw a drone raise its gun and aim it at Rogue and himself. and the effect it had on him was like a light switch for dangerous action. "Look out!" he sprang and Rogue and used his weight and momentum to push her out of the way. The two mutants tumbled to the ground just as the drones' attacks passed through the space they recently occupied. Rogue suddenly found herself lying on her back with Simon on top of her. She looked up at him, with a look of surprise on her face, to see him looking down at her with a slight smile on her face. Rogue wasn't sure if it was because he was proud he had stopped her from getting hit or if it was a simple "just thought I'd help you." Either way, she felt a slight tinge of heat rise in her face. She sort of felt embarrassed by this, being rescued by someone else simply because she had no powers of her own to use as long-distance offense. But Simon was new, so he didn't know that.

Her thoughts were cut short when another drone flew up behind them. Since Simon's back was to it, he couldn't see it coming. However, Simon had noticed Rogue's eyes shift and spot something behind him and he turned. His left forearm turned blue with energy just as the drone fired. Simon brought up his arm, and his fisted hand then molded itself into a glowingblue shield. Simon raised his shield arm in front on Rogue and himself. The volleys struck the shield, but not a one made it past it. Instead, they splashed and dripped off.

After the volleys were gone, Simon turned his arm back into a normal hand, then he raised his right arm, which was now energy. But instead of forming a weapon, Simon fired it as a thermal beam. Theblue heat struck its target, and the drone grew so hot from the heat that it melted, hitting the ground with a loud PLOP as a flaming pile of glowing orange metallic jelly.

Simon helped Rogue get to her feet, but the time was cut short when two metal cables ending in triple-clawed grips snared both teens. Once wrapped itself around Rogue's legs and yanked, bringing them out from under her. The other seized Simon around the waist.

"What now, Raiden?" asked the goth, seeing that they were both in a tight fix.

"Hang on, Rogue," said Simon. Simon's eyes glowed, then a beam shot from them at the snare line holding Rogue down. The beam quickly melted the point it hit, and the tentacle dissolved in half, the half not connected to the drone going limp and it was easy for Rogue to free herself from its grasp.

Simon looked up at the drone holding him. And an idea formed in his mind. Simon grabbed the snare line with both hands. An outline of blue surrounded his form, lightning surrounding him as Simon focused on his powers to be electrical. Just as quickly, thebolts traveled up the cable, the metal conducting the electricity, like a wire. Once it reached the drone the immense charges overloaded the drone's circuits and shorted them out. Sparks flew and smoke billowed from burst out compartments as the drone fell. Simon was kind of surprised on how that idea worked. First time an it worked.

"All right, that's it for this group!' Scott called, "Let's move!" and took off for the finish again. The others didn't even have to ask why. They gathered their wits and took off as well.

"Keep your eyes open," Jean called, "Watch from more drones!"

"Could we have ground-based machines waiting for us?" asked Kitty.

"Logan never said we would have to worry about that," Evan disagreed.

"Always expect the unexpected, Spyke," Scott called over his shoulder, "We have to be ready for anything."

"Kind of like that?" Simon pointed to something up ahead of them. The X-Men were running down a path towards a large circular platform that they had to reach in order to successfully complete the exercise. They had to get every single person there to pass. If a person went down, then they had to be carried to levitated or teleported or whatever to there in order to pass anyway. But now, the X-Men found themselves, cut off from their goal by a series of ground-based drones. Apparently, Scott had been right in that they had to be ready for anything. Unlike the flying drones, moved towards the X-Men on long spidery legs like tarantulas on the attack.

"Whoa!" Kitty, "Logan never said we'd face drones like that! They really upgraded their robots for this one."

"What was yer first clue?" Rogue remarked.

Just then, as the spider drones moved forward, three appendages suddenly extended from their metallic bodies, each of them ending in a blaster-like mechanism. These drones had three guns each, not just one.

"Three guns?" groaned Evan, "That is so wack, Man."  
"Your complaining is not helping us, Spyke," Simon growled at Evan, annoyed for the second time in five minutes by his attitude and wisecracks.

All three of the spider, ground-based drones raised their weapon-armed appendages. And the next instant, the firing began.

"Take cover!" Scott yelled.

Everyone dove for cover behind the rock formations that lined the path. And they did it not a moment too soon. The drone's paint bullets flew past them in a massive hail that would have been unavoidable if there had been no cover. Raiden, Rogue, Nightcrawler, and Shadowcat hid behind a large cliff of rock, as Cyclops, Jean Grey, and Spyke hid behind another on the opposite side.

Scott and Jean looked around the corner, just a titch to see what was out there. A split second after they did, a stream of paint bullets darted past them. They had to quickly pull their heads back to avoid getting caught in the onslaught.

"Three of them," Jean told Scott, "And they're closing fast."

"How are we gonna get past them," asked Evan.

Scott thought hard for a second. If they tried to go all out firing on them, they could destroy those drones fairly easily. Hell, he and Simon could easily take them all out with a few well placed energy blasts, but they could easily be hit if they did that and since everyone, even those who were hit, needed to make it to the end, they could risk getting hit, because that would slow everyone down, and the goal was for no one to get hit.

Suddenly he had an idea. Maybe if they distracted the drones and lured their attention into one narrow range of attack for a short time, then they could be vulnerable to a surprise attack. And they also had the perfect person to take out electrical devices.

"Guys," Scott called out, trying to talk fast in order to lay out the plan before the drones got too close, "I have an idea. Nightcrawler. Can you teleport Shadowcat behind them?"

Kurt looked confused for a second at Scott's question, as did Kitty herself. "I think so," he called back, "Vhy?"

"The rest of us are going to distract them. I need for the two of you to get in up close behind them and take them out. They won't be able to react that quickly."

The two younger X-men looked confused, but quickly put two and two together. "I'm on it!" Kurt shouted out to Scott to let him know he understood. He then turned to Kitty, "Ready, Kitty?" he asked her.

The Brunette nodded readily. Wasting not another second, Kurt grabbed Kitty's hand with one of his three-fingered ones and then BAMF, they were gone in the trademark sulfurous smoke of Kurt's personal dimensional wormhole opening and closing.

"Ok, people," Scott called out, "Let's give Shadowcat and Nightcrawler the cover they need."

Jean quickly erected the largest psychic shield she could to give everyone protection. As the hail of bullets splashed against the barrier, Scott fired a few optic blasts to make things tough for the drones. Simon fired a few of hisblasts to add some kick to the punch, and Evan of course, let his bony arrows fly like he always did.

As the drones struggled to fend of the formidable attacks from the other X-Men, Kurt and Kitty suddenly appeared behind them. Since the drones couldn't hear, they were unaware of their sudden appearance.

Kurt immediately leaped onto the chassis of the first drone. Seeing several large power cables snaking in and out of the metal exterior, he grabbed them and pulled. When they didn't give, he pulled harder. The cables popped out of their sockets, live wires smoking and sparking with raw electricity. With the sudden loss of power, the drone began to quiver and shake with malfunctioning spasms, its weapon arms going limp. Seconds later, the drone gave out entirely and fell to the ground.

While Kurt was busy, Kitty let her molecules and solid structure go ghosty. She leaped up to the drone in front of her and allowed her body to pass through. She felt neither pain, nor pressure, nor shock or jolt as she phased through the inner computer work, but the drone was getting the short end of the stick. Kitty's phasing made the circuits intermix in ways they were never meant to, and the power to flow through components never meant for such purposes. And as a result, a firestorm of turbulence raged throughout the drone's systems, making everything do wrong at once and then a total blackout followed as the drone, sparking and smoking, fell flat.

As Kitty phased out of the drone, she then walked through the legs of the other one, making them give out and short circuit. Once it was no longer standing, Kitty phased through its body, finishing it off totally.

"They're down!" Kitty called out.

The other X-Men then emerged from their cover and were then back on the path. They then started to run towards their teammates.

But something else was waiting. No sooner than the other five X-Men were on their way, three more spider drones emerged. This time, from behind them.

The others hardly had anytime to react, for they acted even before Kurt or Kitty could shout any warning. The drones fire out their may clawed tentacles at their targets. Evan and Rogue were seized as another two busied themselves with Scott and Simon. Jean was on her own as well.

Kurt and Kitty were about to quickly take off but, they got a surprise attack of their own. Two flying drones, traveling quietly, had charged up their paint guns and let them have several volleys of paint onto them. They didn't notice them until it was too late.

Kitty let out a shriek as she felt he paint splash her, staining her uniform with orange. Some of it landed in her hair, and she was totally pissed about that. It would take her several showers to get it out. Kurt felt upset too. Not only was he out of the game, but he would now look like blue and orange Dalmatian rather than a fuzzy blue elf.

Simon and Scott struggled to get out of their predicament. But they were having trouble. The tentacles that were holding Scott prisoner were holding him so that he was facing away from the drone and couldn't aim his visor at it. As for Simon, he was wondering what power would be best to free himself with.

"What now, Cyclops?" Simon called to his teammate, trying to get his eyes pointed in the right direction.

"I can't get free," Scott answered as he tried unsuccessfully to pull the metal tentacles away from his neck and torso, "I could get rid of this drone if I could just aim my visor in the right direction. Raiden, can you get me loose?"

Simon looked and saw that the tentacle holding Scott was within arms reach of him. Ha could easily do it. "Yeah, sure," Simon answered, "Hang on."

Simon raised his right arm, and morphed it into a glowing blue blade shaped like a crescent. He swung the blue blade at the tentacle as best he could. The blade sliced right through the tentacle like a hot knife through butter, seperating the portion that held Scott from the main body.

Once the arm was cut off, Scott dropped to the ground along with the tentacle that had held him. He pushed the offending metal arm away and then quickly turned to the drone, which was sending out another tentacle to snare the young deputy leader. But Scott was ready. He fired an optic blast at one of the drone's legs, ripping it clean off the main body. Then he fired a second blast at the drone's body, which punched through the metal like a battering ram through a door. The drone would bother him no longer.

As Scott was busy, Simon had turned one of his arms into a blue sword and the other into a blue double-bladed axe. He hacked at the tentacles, freeing himself in the process. After he managed to fall to the ground, he ran to one of the drone's legs and gave it a double slash with both weapons, costing the drone a limb. As the drone struggled to hold itself up with only three of it's four legs, Simon reformed his hands, but kept his energy going. He merged both of his hands and let loose a beam that filled the drone with unstable magnetic charges. Seconds later, it was reduced to disintgrated fragmets.

Scott and Simon gave each other approving looks of congratulations, but then they turned to help the others. Jean had managed to force the tentacles off herself, using her telekinesis. Then she forced the drone back with a massive blast of the mental force. After the drone was a safe distance away, Cyclops and Raiden gave the beast a double combo of energy blasts, extradimensional red force and organic blue power pulverizing the target with annhilating flashes.

Simon looked at Kurt and Kitty, and saw they were splattered with orange paint. "Nightcrawler and Shadowcat have been hit," he reported.

"We have to free Rogue and Spyke," Jean objected. She pointed to the drone holding the other two.

"Raiden," Scott suddenly shot at Simon, who turned to face him. "Double blast on my mark." Simon nodded. "Now!"

Scott fired a red optic blast from his eyes as Simon unleashed a blue heat beam from his arm. Simon's beam struck first, instantly melting the center of the drone's body. The plating grew red hot, then began to run down in viscous rivers of molten metal. The two halved of the drone began to push against each other as the sides melted and squished each other under the weight. But then Scott's force beams struck where Simon's heat ray was melting away the metal, and the force sheared the drone in half, the already soft metal coming apart like wet clay. The tentacles dropped Rogue and Spyke.

With that, the two quickly climbed to their feet as Scott, Jean and Simon rushed over to lend a hand. Just the drone cavalry was just around the bend, and four flying drones came swooping down like birds of prey. They were already firing and the blasts would have taken the X-Men out of the game had Jean not used her telekinetic field to protect them.

Spyke was already locking and loading his spikes as the drones came down hard, and the arrows flew like spears at a wild deer. The pikes took the paint blasts, but the drones themselves were long gone before they could strike.

One of the drones armed its snare line and fired at Rogue as it roared past. The drone's aim was perfect. It caught Rogue around the torso and pulled her up as the drone hovered overhead.

As Evan was trying to take down the other three drones, Scott, Jean and Scott looked as Rouge struggled to pull herself free. Simon was wondering what she should do. Which effect would be safest for Rogue? He suddenly realized he couldn't shoot a beam. He could hit Rogue, she was too close to the drone. He could hurt someone. God in heaven. Why didn't that occur to him in the first place? He couldn't do it.

"Rogue's been snared," Jean exclaimed. She turned to Simon. "Raiden, shoot that drone down with one of your beams."

" I can't," Simon objected, "I might hit Rogue!"

Rogue continued to struggle, but she couldn't get herself loose. Simon just stood there wondering what in the world he could do. He couldn't risk hurting someone. He'd be violating the promise he made to himself long ago. But what else could he do?

Scott was about to tell Simon that he had to do something when he saw the drones coming around for another pass. And their guns were raised. Scott and Jean saw this and immediately moved, trying to get to cover. But Simon was too busy wondering how to help Rogue to notice.

"Raiden! Watch out!" Scott called. But Scott's warning reached Simon's ears too late. The paint volleys were already flying and by the time Simon turned to see what the problem was, he felt several pellets of orange goo strike him. Orange paint splattered over him, his chest, legs, arms, and head. After the shots had passed he looked more like a paint monster than Simon Valley.

And seconds later, a loud buzz echoed through the Danger Room. The timer had reached zero.

Everything and everyone froze. The drone that was holding Rogue let go of her and she dropped to the ground. The holographic world around the X-Men shimmered with static and then vanished, leaving them in the Danger Room. The trashed drones lay there in ruins, and the seven teens were left to consider their failure to finish the exercise successfully.

Everyone looked around them, assessing the situation, all of them breathing hard as their chests heaved in and out from the workout. Kurt and Kitty walked back their teammates, both of them with orange paint on them. Kitty was trying to get some of the orange slime out of her hair, but was having limited success. She would need several showers to get this out. Kurt was feeling similar, only his problem was that he had fur all over his body and that would be hell to wash out.

Rogue by now was back on her feet, for the drone holding her was gone now. Simon stood there in his painted state. Evan was groaning too, for he too had been on the receiving end of some paint blasts.

"I guess we didn't make it," said the skateboarding teen.

"You think?" Simon groaned, wiping thick gobs of paint off his face.

"Man weh totally messed that up," Rogue grumbled, clearly in a bad mood at the failed exercise, "Weh really shoulda been going there."

Just then, the doors to the Danger Room opened, and Logan, Ororo, and Xavier all came in. They looked at their students with teaching eyes.

"Simon, what the hell happened?" asked Logan, his question telling Simon he had seen it all. Logan had a series of emotions on his face, but anger and aggression weren't among them. However, it was evident that he wanted to know what had gone wrong with Simon not reacting fast enough.

"Hesitated," Simon answered honestly, hoping not to get too rough a lecture from the feral Canadian.

"As in, ya though too long before you made your move," said Logan. It was a statement, not a question. Besides what better description for hesitation was there?

"Yeah, that pretty much sums it all up," Simon responded, breathing slightly harder than normal due to his physical exertion.

"Well, Kid," Wolverine told Raiden in a teacher-like manner, carefully studying the newest X-Man, whom he thought to look quite humorous with all the splashes of orange paint on him. "Here's your little lesson of the day. When yer with the X-Men, time and slow reflexes are your enemies."

Simon considered how to respond to that. Logan had a point in every sense, and there was no way he could deny he could have acted faster. But since he was new to this X-Man stuff, he had acted as best as his knowledge of his powers had allowed. But if he said that, it may sound like he was making an excuse. And Logan definitely didn't look like the type of man to make excuses at.

Lucky for him, the others stepped in. "Your not too upset are you, Mr. Logan?" asked Kitty, "He was afraid of accidentally hurting Rogue."

Logan looked at Scott and Jean, who nodded in acknowledgment. "Shadowcat's right," said Scott, "Raiden didn't act fast enough because he wasn't sure of what to do without risking the safety of the team. No real harm in that."

The X-Men could just barely see the slight smile that seemed to cross Logan's lips as he thought about that. They had a point. Now came the task of making that reactions time much, much shorter.

"Alright, ya got the point there," he answered. He looked back to Simon. "I'll accept that this time, since this was yer first session, but we're gonna have to work on that reaction time now." Logan's eyes were hard, like they normally were, but he had a slight smile on his face.

"Got it," Simon let out.

"Well," said Xavier, "That's enough for today. If you all can get yourselves cleaned up, we can get ready for the New Mutants." With that Ororo, Logan, and Xavier left the Danger Room, leaving their students behind to themselves.

Scott came up to Simon, who was looking down at himself. "Man," Simon complained, looking down at himself, "My first session on my first day and I already messed up my uniform."

"You really shouldn't worry about that," said Jean, "This stiff washes out easily."  
Simon seemed to take a little comfort in that. Scott then placed his hand on his shoulder. "Sorry if I cost us the exercise," Simon told him.

"Not to worry," said Scott, "You did good. Better than I was expecting in fact."

Simon looked a little surprised by that. He was half expecting to get a lecture from the young field leader, but not that. He then smiled appreciatively at Scott. "Thanks, Scott," he said, "I appreciate that."

AS the team gathered around a few others joined in the conversation. Kurt was looking at Simon's paint splashed body, which was more orange than his own. "I don't know if I speak for zhe rest of uz," said Kurt, "But you do look good in paint."

Simon whirled around at the fuzzy elf, his eyes wide with surprise. Kitty and Evan however, started giggling. Even Rogue seemed to smile a bit that that. "Kurt," Simon groaned in an exhausted tone.

"Well you like, do," Kitty added, still giggling that pretty little valley girl tinkle of a laugh she had. Simon swore that while he was here, Kitty's valley girl antics were going to drive him crazy. Rogue seemed to be thinking the same thing. Goths and Valley girls probably were the biggest contrast in character around.

"Well, come on everyone," said Scott, "Lets hit the showers."

"Good to me," said Jean.

"Me too," said Kitty.

"Me three," added Kurt.

Evan was already headed out.

As the others started to leave, Simon walked over to Rogue, who was scratching her hair with a gloved hand. "Are you alright?" he asked her.

"Yeah, Ah'm fahne," said the southern girl, "ah was just caught off guard when that drone snared meh."

"Well, I'm sorry if I didn't free you in time," said Simon, "I wasn't sure what power to use."

Rogue looked at Simon with confusion in her eyes. Not sure? How did that work? Suddenly she was angry with him, but seconds later she understood. Simon was probably unsure of what was the safest thing to do. And with energy-based powers, who could blame him? Rogue could relate, for she had had to make choices like that regarding her powers in the past, to either use them to save one or more lives, or not use them and risk losing more of herself.

"Ah understand," she said softly to him, "Well, weh should go." She didn't hear an answer right away and looked to see that Simon was looking away from her. As she followed his sight, she saw he was watching Jean and Scott walking out of the Danger Room, and Jean had her arm around Scott's shoulders and Scott had his arm around Jean's waist.

Rogue immediately felt a tinge of envy rise up in her, seeing Jean Grey, the popularity queen get more attention than she needed, but seeing her touch Scott was the hardest part to live with. She chewed on her lip to avoid saying anything bad.

"Those two are an item, aren't they?" asked Simon.

"They're inseparable," Rogue answered, which was true. But as she looked at Simon, she saw there were signs of hurt and longing in his eyes, or maybe envy. Were those signs that he was ill at ease with some part of seeing Jean and Scott together? But what was it? She had trouble coming up with a good guess, for not much about him was known. Suddenly she remembered that redheaded girl in that photo from the other night in Simon's bedroom, the one who looked much like Jean. Was it possible that that had something to do with it? But if it was, what was it?

"Simon?" asked Rogue. He turned to face her. "Are yah alright?" she asked sounding concerned.

Simon quickly nodded his head. "Oh, yeah. I'm fine. Why?"

Rogue was about to comment on the fact he seemed far away and hurt, but she pushed that aside. It just felt right not to do that sort of thing. "Ah was just wonderin'," she said simply. Were the signs of her envy of Jean and Scott showing as well? She hoped Simon couldn't pin something like that on her.

Simon seemed to accept that. With that, they left to Danger Room to hit the showers.

* * *

Well folks, there's this chapter! I've noticed that my chapters are starting to get longer than need be again, so I'll try to fix that in the future. I hope I haven't done too much damage that way. Anyway, the next chapter will be up soon! And remember, the more reviews I get, the faster I update! 


	15. Days at the Xavier Institute

**Chapter 14**

**Days at the Xavier Institute**

Scott was currently in his bedroom after heading out of the Danger Room session. He changed out of his uniform, which was not stained by orange paint pellets, and then hung it up in his closet next to his favorite button down shirt. He took off his battle single-lens visor and replaced it with his ordinary everyday shades. It had been a fairly good session, more or less. Granted they hadn't completed the exercise successfully. They hadn't reached the goal end point, and in addition several of their members had been shot down. In simplicity, it was a failed exercise, which was something Scott was not particularly fond of.

Well, there were varying types of failed exercises in Scott's opinion. And like all things that came in several levels or forms, some were preferable to others. There was the failed session where it failed because people didn't give a damn about it and just let it slip through their fingers, which Scott hated to see on any given day. There was the failed session where people kept getting in each other's way due to a lack of knowledge of how to approach things and work as a team, try as they might. And finally, there was the session that failed because it was too hard and too intense to complete successfully, not matter how well prepared or team-working people were. Of those, Scott preferred the last.

Failing was something Scott Summers never truly felt good about, regardless of how inevitable failure was given the circumstances. He hated failure. He remembered the first major defeat at the hands of the Scarlet Witch not too long ago. It was the first major defeat he had dealt with. He remembered the frustration of losing surpassing his better judgment. If Jean hadn't been told him not to retreat, he probably would have done something he'd regret.

Scott still thought about that night from time to time. Mainly on his reaction. Wanda had been too much for them, which left a sour taste in his mouth. But he also remembered the professor's words he'd told them right after that battle.

_You know, handling defeat is as much a mark of your character as coming home the victor. And from I see, this was a lesson, apparently, much needed. _

Hearing those words had hurt Scott's pride, but the truth behind them was undeniable. Scott had always been an unrelenting perfectionist during his many years as deputy leader. And for a perfectionist, change was never easy to accept. Failure was something even worse.

But coming back to the last session, Scott kept telling himself that they had done well, and Simon had done okay for a first time. Granted training for him was a must, but just maybe, success was not too far off.

The young leader left his room and went off in search of Jean. If Scott didn't know any better, he would have sworn that his attraction for Jean had been growing day by day. Stronger and deeper. There was practically no denying it. But why the hell would Scott want to deny something like that? Never in a million billion years.

Being in love with Jean and having her love him in return made Scott's life complete. If that was taken away, the sheet of glass that made up his life would shatter as if struck by a flying stone. Other than being leader and all his friends here at the institute, the most important thing to Scott was Jean. The woman he loved with all his heart.

Scott stopped as he approached Jean's door. He stared at the door for a few moments, then knocked. "Just a minute," he heard Jean's voice answer the knocking. Seconds later, the door opened and Jean stepped out.

"Jean," Scott smiled at her in greeting.

"Hey, Slim," Jean winked at him as she said those words and Scott felt his cheeks warm up a little. "I'm heading out to get some fresh air out in the garden, want to join me?"

"Need you even ask?" asked Scott, grinning at the redhead.

Jean's smile grew slightly wider. "I'll take that as a yes," she said, chuckling. Even without using her telepathy, Scott was sometimes as easy to read as book. Not often, rest assured, but occasionally. She linked her arm through Scott's and the young couple headed down the halls of the institute to the main entrance in order to get some fresh air. Since it was spring, fresh air was something to enjoy like the sunshine that came with it. And who better to do that with than the person you were in love with?

Walking down the hallways with Scott, Jean asked herself for perhaps the millionth time as to why she didn't notice Scott's attraction and deep caring for her. Maybe it was something she had been blinded by. Duncan Matthews, which everyone at Bayville High knew was the star quarterback, jock stud-man, and top of the food chain. Sure he was attractive and a lady's man about him. And for a while Jean had thought they could make things flow and make them flow smoothly.

However, once one looked past Duncan's handsome, high and mighty exterior, the inner person beyond was nothing less than repellent. Duncan Matthews was the best example of a narcissistic, arrogant, selfish, egotistical pig of a human one could expect to find. Apparently, at the annual girl's choice dance, where Duncan had socialize with his jock football buddies rather than dance with Jean like he was supposed to, Jean had finally decided to call it quits, seeing Duncan using her to his advantage to make himself look even more "top of the food chain" in the eyes of the other Bayville High students. She had Scott had started dating not long after, and Jean had long decided that was the best choice she'd made in a mighty long time.

Outside, the sky was crystal clear blue, not a cloud in the entire overhead atmosphere, and the warm spring sun was shining brightly, lighting up the institute grounds with warm life-giving gleam. The sound of songbirds happily chirping in the warm air. When people had been looking forward to spring break, spring had sprung big time.

Scott took a good deep breath of the air, his chest bulging like a balloon as his lungs filled up. Jean took notice at Scott's heavy breathing, and the way his chest grew in size. She decided to tease him a little.

"Showing off that big strong chest of yours, Scott Summers?" asked Jean with a smirk, "Trying to get me to look?"

Scott looked a little confused at Jean's remark, but seeing the sly smirk on her face, he started to grin himself and took it as his cue to play along. "Well, Jean, I was simply taking a nice deep breath of this fresh spring air. But of course, how could you not help stealing a look at me?"

Jean's smirk grew deeper, a growing gash on her face. "My dear Scott, I do believe that your pride in your physique has gone to your head. You must think you're Mr. Muscle Beach, complete with ruby-quartz shades and optic blasts, thrice the man for half the price, no addition cost for eye treatment or tanning glasses. Satisfaction guaranteed."

Instead of immediately responding with words, Scott tilted his head to one side and placed a hand over his heart in mock humiliation. "Jean Grey, your words of mock cut me to the quick of my spirit," he told her in a sarcastic tone of voice.

"Oh, really?" Jean grinned as she playfully poked him in the ribs with her fingers. Scott groaned and laughed at the same time as his girlfriend rib-tickled him. Jean was laughing by now too, a nice playful laugh that Scott just adored to hear, especially when they were sharing amusing moments or memories with each other. While something like laughing always felt good to him, it always felt even better when he shared it with Jean. It was like their love made ordinary everyday things extraordinarily spiritual and uplifting experiences.

"You always know how to have a good time," said Scott.

"Well, you know me," Jean replied, "Have fun when you can so a minute is never wasted."

"Actually," Scott sneered at her, thinking of a little payback for her crack on his puffing out his chest, "You're a girl. That explains it."

Jean's green eyes widened at that. "And what is that supposed to mean?" she asked, pretending to be insulted.

"Easy," Scott grinned, "Haven't you ever heard the saying 'girls just want to have fun?'"

Jean sighed in exasperation. "Oh, like that is ever true!" she humphed at Scott, putting her nose in the air like she was proud of her understanding something better than Scott was.

"You know I'm only teasing," said Scott, letting his big man face fall.

Jean let out a laugh as well, and looked back at Scott with pure love in her eyes. "Yeah I know, Scott. That's one reason why I love you."

Scott raised an eyebrow. "I thought you loved me because I cared about the welfare and safety of everyone."

"Well," Jean answered, "I do, but I also love your sense of humor. Some of the other kids here are just too immature for my liking. You on the other hand, I can relate to."

If Scott ever tired of hearing things like that from Jean, it would be the day he would have ceased to exist as his true self. However, before he could answer that, she leaned in and kissed him on the lips gently. And Scott almost died and went to heaven. He wrapped an arm around Jean's head and carefully stroked her hair in a soothing manner.

Finally, the need for oxygen made the two reluctantly separate. "Wow," said Scott, a look on his face showing how much that kiss affected him.

"I'll say," said Jean. She looked out across the lawn. The freshly cut grass was like a silky green blanket of crystal on the lawn as the fountain spouted crystalline streams of silvery water into the air. The breeze whistled through the trees like the wind flowing through a flute of music.

"I just love nice days like this," Jean stated, "So peaceful, so beautiful."

"Yeah, the perfect sort of day to be outside," agreed Scott.

"We finally have a day where there's no commotion from our enemies or our younger students," said Jean smiling.

However, seconds later, a loud BOOM erupted from on side of the grounds, the sound of a bomb going off. Or something like a bomb.

"Or not," Jean sighed, her happy face going down after hearing that explosion. Across the yard, they saw that the New Mutants had started up a game of Frisbee, and everyone was participating in it. Even Kurt and Evan were joining in on the fun. And of course, powers were allowed, which everyone was taking advantage of. The explosion had made that clear even before the game was discovered.

"Leave it to the New Mutants to turn a peaceful day into a demolition derby," said Scott, "You give them an inch, they walk all over you."

"What was your first clue?" asked Jean sarcastically.

They walked over to where the game was taking place, flowing the trail of smoke that were billowing into the sky from patches of blown up earth. It was total chaos what they found. Everyone was trying to get a hold of the Frisbee and powers were making it more like a clash of mutant teenage titans rather than a simple game of catch. Ray and Roberto, as usual, were in what one would call combat with each other, the solar-power Brazilian and the electric wild-haired berserker, clashing as was their daily activity with each other. Tabitha, always the one in search of a blast of a good time, was throwing little cherry bombs all around to discourage people from interfering with her catching the Frisbee. However, Jamie was doing his little play of being his own team, and had duplicates running all around trying to seize the prize before another person got in the way.

"You will never see another sight like it," said Scott, gazing at the spectacle.

"Hey guys," they heard Kitty call out to them for behind. They turned to see Kitty and Rogue sitting on the base of the fountain, watching the New Mutants and Evan and Kurt join in on the chaos. Neither Jean nor Scott could really guess as to why they were watching. Maybe just to be speculators, or just because there was nothing else to do out here other than enjoy the total chaos of a game of "Mutant Frisbee."

"What are you doing?" asked Kitty, noticing how Scott and Jean had been strolling arm in arm until they reached the site of the game. She wasn't surprised. Everyone at the institute knew how much Jean and Scott had fallen in love.

"Well," said Scott, "Jean and I were going to enjoy a nice peaceful stroll outside in the sunshine. But apparently, peaceful is not really an option anymore." Scott looked out over the game of mutants.

The Frisbee was flying high in the air, and everyone, including an entire swarm of Jamies, were pushing at each other to get into catching range. But Kurt bamfed right up to the flying disk and grabbed in a three-fingered hand before teleporting back to the ground where he could stand. "Ha! It's mein now!" he announced in playful pride.

"Better watch your wild, blue tail, Yonder Boy!" Tabitha shouted at the fuzzy elf, readying a handful of cherry bombs to throw his way.

"It looks like the 4th of July!" Jubilee added dangerously, raising her hands, which were snapping and popping with her fireworks. Ray and Bobby were already powering up a volley of lightning and ice energies to add spice to the mix.

Seeing everyone going after him, Kurt simply threw the Frisbee again, and the chaos started once again, considering it had even paused at all.

"I just hope that this new training program helps keep them under control," said Jean.

"Face it, Jean," said Rogue, looking out at all the New Mutants having a ball of a time with their powers, which was something she could never enjoy, "they'll never grow outta it. Which will probably mean more damage than before." A few flash bangs of light and energy emphasized her point as the New Mutants continued to fight World War II for the Frisbee.

It was then that Kitty spoke up, for no one else seemed to have anything important to say currently. "So Scott, how do you feel about training with the new recruits? We start that tomorrow."

Scott looked at the petite brunette with uncertainty showing on his face. Since you never got to see Scott's eyes due to his shades, you had to learn to read his facial expressions and lines as a substitute. "I have a feeling that it's going to be a long two weeks," Scott stated, "Danger Room sessions are hard enough as it is with the senior X-Men now consisting of seven members and not six. When we add whole bunch of the others to that group, we're going to have a major group issue to deal with. Not to mention some of them are a little out of control."  
"Personally, Ah think they aren't ready for it," said Rogue, "They're still pullin' pranks on people day in and day out, and ah'm getting damn sick of it."

Jean and Scott could relate to Rogue's feelings. Jokes were funny if they were done only once, sometimes twice, but when done over and over they became annoying as hell. The New Mutants had proven that over and over. There had been times when Scott had wanted to rip his hair out due to frustration. Scott had a higher-than-average endurance level and will power, but he was still only human and could only take so much. The same was true of Jean. Patient as she was, there were limits to her tolerances as well. AS for Rogue, well, that would be playing with fire. Rogue was widely known around the institute for not taking anything from anyone. Pissing her off was the wrong thing to do, unless you really wanted to get a first hand experience of being drained.

"I wonder if they'll, like, pull any pranks on Simon," said Kitty.

The other three looked at her incredulously. "Is there any doubt?" asked Scott, "They're probably thinking of something pull on him even as we speak. In fact, I'm wiling to beat that by this time tomorrow, Simon will have had at least one prank pulled on him."

"They always want new targets for their games," Rogue sighed, "and Simon's the newest one around."

"Where is Simon anyway?" asked Kitty, "He, like, vanished."

"I haven't seen him," said Jean.

Kitty looked to Scott. "How about you, Scott?" asked Kitty.

Scott shook his head. "Not since we ended the Danger Room session."

"Maybeh he's out somewhere," suggested Rouge, "Maybe to get away for a while."

"Well," Kitty pressed, "Where could he have gone? He doesn't really know much about Bayville."

As the quartet were talking, Roberto had absorbed tremendous amounts of solar energy and ultraviolet radiation into his body, charging himself up into his shadow-wreathed-in-flame form where he was super strong, super energetic, and super leaping. As Sam and Bobby, in his organic ice form, came charging at him to seize the Frisbee in an ice attack or cannonball tackle, the solar-power Brazilian boy threw the Frisbee high into the air using his super strength. And with power like that, the Frisbee went high and long into the sky, and out of reach to the normal person.

"Oh man!" barked Ray, "You just lost us the Frisbee, Berto!"

"Ah got it!" Sam called out, and fired up his thermo-chemical propulsion, and took off into the sky after the Frisbee like a torpedo, hoping to snatch it before it got too far away.

However, as Sam shot towards the Frisbee, he noticed a glowing blue form, the size and shape of a young man hovering in the air and holding the Frisbee, like a figure composed of pure bright blue light. As Sam grew closer, the thing shot up its head.

"Hey!" Sam shouted, "Look out!"

"Whoa!" it called out, in a familiar sounding voice, and quickly dodged to the side with only seconds to spare. Sam sailed harmlessly past it. After seeing he safely missed his target, Sam turned himself around and flew back down to his friends.

The game had come to a brief pause. Everyone was looking up at the floating blue form up there in the sky holding the Frisbee, curious as to what it was. As they watched, the form flew down towards them, and finally, landed standing up on its feet, holding the Frisbee in its right hand.

Then they saw that the glowing blue shape was actually Simon. They recognized the outlines his face, clothes, and other features, but it looked like his entire body was composed of glowing bright blue energy, a radiant blue outline lining his form like a corona. For a second, Simon looked at them all with his featureless blue eyes. Then his energy form turned back into flesh and blood and he looked like his human self again.

"I think you lost this," he stated as a matter-of-factly, holding up the Frisbee. The New Mutants looked at Simon with a look of slight surprise, as if they didn't realize he could do things like he just did. Simon decided to break the silence before he freaked out. "Catch!" Simon called and tossed the Frisbee to them. Seeing the Frisbee fly towards them was enough and the New Mutants and they took after it.

Simon looked at the kids playing with their powers. And after the little incident in the sky moments ago, flying didn't seem like a good idea right now. He'd better stick to the ground until later on. As for ground-based activities, he decided to stay farther away from all the mutant mania before him before he had any more accidents that could cost him a trip to the infirmary.

Simon turned to see Scott, Jean, Kitty, and Rogue all standing or sitting on the fountain. They looked like they were just conversing, so he went over to them to join in. He was feeling rather awkward with simply standing there after doing a little of his changing in front of people and he figured joining in on a conversation was an easy way of getting out of it.

"Hey, Guys," the blond teen greeted the four other X-Men.

"Quite an entrance," said Kitty, commenting on Simon's landing. She was looking at Simon with a judging look.

"Well, I wasn't planning to make an entrance like that," said Simon, "Circumstances got in the way."

"What were you doing up there?" asked Kitty, "And how come you were glowing blue like that?"

_Geez, doesn't this valley girl have other hobbies?_ Simon asked himself, Kitty's valley girl accent starting to make him feel like he was really in Southern California and not Bayville, New York. He was starting to think that Kitty Pryde was becoming more happy-go-lucky as time went by and wouldn't stop until doomsday.

"I was flying," Simon answered quickly, "I've found it's a good way to cool my nerves."

Scott and Jean and Rogue raised an eyebrow each, but Kitty looked too excited for Simon's like. "You can fly?" asked Jean, sounding not as surprised as Simon was expecting.

"Yeah. When I turn myself entirely into energy, I can fly. I discovered it accidentally. It's one of the easier things I can do with my powers. You don't sound too surprised, Jean."

Jean merely smiled at Simon knowingly. "Well," she said, "You know that I'm telekinetic?" Simon nodded. "Well, I can use that on myself and fly. It's sort of like what you do, but not quite."

A look of confusion crossed Simon's face, but then cleared. "Oh, I see."

"So," Kitty leaped in with another question, "What's it like to fly?"

Simon started to frown in frustration at all these questions. "Can we PLEASE talk about something else?" he asked Kitty in a forceful, convincing tone.

Kitty saw she had irked someone again with her persistence and curiosity. She mentally kicked herself for doing that. And Simon, she decided, was not a good person to irk, like a few others she knew. He looked ready to pounce on any reaction she made, his green eyes narrow with fierce focus.

"Sorry," she apologized, "I just wanted to---,"

"KITTY!" Scott, Jean, Rogue, and Simon all but shouted it out, hoping to put a stop to Kitty's overdoing it.

Kitty had overdone it once again, and simply shut up. But she wanted to get away from the four pairs of eyes looking at her with "don't push it" written in them. Luckily, her wish was granted.

"Hey, Kitty!" She looked to see that Tabitha, Rahne, Jubilee, and Amara had gathered in a small group under a tree in the shade, exchanging girl talk about who knows what. Amara was beckoning her over with her hand. "Come on and join us!" Amara called over to her. Kitty felt relief flood through her.

She turned back to the four older X-Men. "Well, see you later." And she scurried off, aware of the four pairs of eyes, three of them green and one hidden behind red shades, following her as she walked away. "Sooorrrryyy," she mumbled sarcastically under her breath as she went.

"Geez," sighed Simon, "She gets so carried away."

"Yah have no idea," Rogue snorted.

"Do I want to have an idea?" asked Simon, even though he already knew the answer.

"Do ah have tah answer that?" asked Rogue, rolling her eyes.

"Forget it," Simon ended it, seeing she enjoyed talking about it as much as he did.

Simon looked at Scott and Jean, and immediately noticed they were holding hands, in a way that seemed too close for friendship. But then again, he already knew from rumor and fact that they were an item so he wasn't surprised. A slight feeling of envy welled up in him as he saw that.

"Simon?" Scott's voice broke Simon out of his trance. He noticed that Jean and Scott were giving him confused looks.

"Huh?" he asked.

"You looked like you were a million miles away right now," Scott reported, "What's making you zone out?"

Simon was silent. He knew full well why, but he wouldn't say that to them. Hell, he didn't want to say it to himself. He decided to simply blow it off. "Nothing," he said, "I just zone out unintentionally sometimes."

"Well," said Scott, turning to his girl friend, "Jean, shall we go find someplace where there IS some peace and quiet?"

Jean smiled lovingly at Scott. "Good idea," she said, "Come on, Slim." She and Scott then went off to do their own thing.

* * *

Rogue's heart was hurting. For the second time in less than two days. And she knew it would going to for the rest of her life, even if not constantly. It was seeing Jean and Scott. Again. Oh sure she'd seen them doing a lot of things together over the past few weeks, ever since Jean had dumped that Matthews jerk. 

Rogue had been sort of surprised by that, but also not so surprised by that. Before then, she really hadn't seen Jean give any real sign that she wasn't letting her high mount on the popularity horse cloud her judgment. But after she had finally called it quits with Duncan, Rogue saw that as an indication that Jean was more observant and not as ignorant than Rouge had given her credit for. Scott was infinity a better choice in Rogue's opinion. But then again, when ever did the southern Goth's, who skin was as deadly to the touch as venom was the bloodstream, opinion matter? It really didn't, or at least that was the way Rogue felt about it.

Only seconds passed before Rogue realized what it was that bothering her so. Seeing Scott and Jean hold hands and walk away in romantic love had reminded her of the one thing she desired above all else, but yet she couldn't have. The ability to touch and to love, to kiss and to hug, to do all the things that love birds and lovers did to express their feelings.

For a brief second, Rogue had seen that as them flaunting their love, rubbing it in her face. But, of course, Rogue knew that was the irrational part of her judgment getting in the way of logic. They were friends, of hers. They would never do that intentionally. But one of the things about human nature was that emotions like anger, frustration, and such were so influential that they could cause irrational thoughts seem natural, in one way or another. Rogue just wondered why she hadn't gotten used to it by now.

"Rogue?" she heard Simon speak to her, jerking her out of her deep thoughts of personal analysis.

She looked in the direction of the voice to see Simon had sat down on the edge of the fountain with her. The blond-haired boy was looking at the Goth with concern evident in his green eyes. "Are you okay?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"Yeah, Ah'm fine," she answered, too quickly.

Simon raised an eyebrow, signaling his catch of the quickness of her answer.

"It's just----," Rogue started but paused. She was suddenly wary of telling Simon how she felt. After all, she wasn't really that open, even with her friends. It was part of her reclusive nature that spurned her to do that. But she saw genuine concern in Simon's eyes, and a desire to understand. And that sort of surprised her.

Simon had not really given her much of a view of his personality. So far, she knew he was self-contained, composed, stern, and also strong/silent, not much of a laugher or joker. This concern part was fairly new. Maybe Simon was deeper than he let on. She decided to risk it this time, for she hoped Simon could understand.

"Ah've wanted to get close to somebody," said Rogue softly, "But---because of mah powers------well, yah know could happen if ah did."

Simon looked down on that, as if he was feeling the hurt she was. "You would drain them," he said quietly and sadly.

Rogue suddenly remembered the first time she had absorbed someone. Cody Robbins at the dance in Mississippi. The first time her had experienced the overwhelming confusion of having another's thoughts in her mind and abilities in her body. It had almost driven her mad with confusion. No one could understand that unless the actually felt it like Rogue had.

But what was worse was that Rogue had been attracted to Cody, and apparently, she had heard rumor of him being attracted to her as well. If it weren't for her poisonous skin, maybe she could have had a shot at having a boyfriend. Cody Robbins had been considered one of the most attractive boys at school in her hometown. But her powers that stopped that romance before it had even begun. And what was worse than that?

Simon looked into the jewel green eyes, and found himself drowning in them. Partly from capture of their beauty, but also from the emotions he saw in them. They held a world of hurt and pain, and Simon felt a yearning to reach out and hug her, try to ease some of the pain. But he remembered her powers and didn't do so, for he had some memories he sure as hell didn't want another to see through his own eyes. Having the power to absorb another person through touch and not control it sounded horrible to live with as it would prevent her from making friends cue to the isolation it would cause, and thus loneliness. That was a major emotion he saw in those green eyes. Besides, he could relate to what Rogue was feeling. But he couldn't say it, for he couldn't bear the though of remembering it either.

"I understand," he said, trying to sooth her.

Rogue looked at him, expecting to see hated pity again. But as before, he saw none with him. Simon's jungle eyes were cloudy and held understanding, and hurt. The latter Rogue found surprising.

"Look," Rogue said quickly, sounding a little harsher than she wanted to, but couldn't stop it from happening, "Ah don't mean to sound brushin' off, but ah don't think yah could understand."

Simon looked at her, and his face hardened with frustrated emotions. "Believe me, I wish I could say I couldn't," he said darkly.

"What do yah mean?" asked Rogue, once again surprised by Simon's facial emotions.

"Let's just say I can relate and leave it at that okay?" Simon snapped suddenly. Rogue was startled by Simon's outburst of emotions.

Simon saw the startled look on Rogue's face, and immediately regretted his harsh words. His emotions had gotten the best of him again. "I'm sorry," he apologized, "It's jus that-----," he paused. "There're some things I rather not talk about."

Rogue looked at Simon and brushed her hair back behind her ear. "Ah guess weh should stop this conversation then," she suggested.

Simon shook his head. "No. I just think we should talk about something else. Besides, I'd like to get to know you better." She was rewarded with a small smile from Simon. It was amazing how that smile transformed his face, which was normally stern and neutral. It lit it up. She smiled at him in return.

Simon felt his breath steal away form him. He hadn't seen Rogue smile before in the time since he was here. He knew a smile could change a person's appearance, but with Rogue, he was amazed by it. She looked even more beautiful than usual when she smiled. It crinkled up her eyes and lit up her face.

Across the yard under the shade of the trees, Kitty, Rahne, Amara, Tabitha, and Jubilee were all sitting, conversing with each other the way only girls could.

Amara looked back at where Rogue and Simon were sitting, and was surprised to see that Simon had his hand over Rogue's. And the two of them seemed to be smiling at each other.

"Hey, Amara," Jubilee asked her, "What's up?"

Amara turned to her friends, seeing that they all were interested in that captured her attention. "Look," the Nova Roman princess pointed to the fountain, where Rogue and Simon were sitting.

The girls looked and their eyes widened. "No way!" several of them exclaimed. If their eyes weren't deceiving them, they were seeing the new X-Man holding hands with Rogue and the two of them were smiling.

"Well, Rogue sure knows how to pick 'em," said Tabitha, grinning widely.

"Tabitha!" Kitty looked at her, "They've only met!"

"Hey," Tabitha smiled, "Don't doubt me. I know love when I see it."

"Aren't ye a little quick to judge?" asked Rahne, shaking her little red-haired head, "Ye do that an awful lot 'ere."

"What do you think, Jubes?" Tabitha asked Jubilee, "Do you see the arrow of Cupid in there?"

Jubilee laughed at that. "Well, you got to admit it," said the Asian girl, "He's got the build."

Tabitha's grin grew wider. "I think Rogue has it bad for the Energy Man!" she giggled. Amara and Jubilee giggled at nickname Tabitha used to describe Simon.

The others didn't have to think twice on what she meant. Even with his clothes on, it was clear that Simon had a very athletic and well-developed physique. Not super muscular like a body builder or football player, but more of a swimmer/runner/soccer player sort.

"I wonder what he looks like underneath that shirt," Tabitha said, grinning.

"Tabby!" Amara gasped. Even after all this time, Amara was still getting used to how outgoing her best friend was.

"Come on. A girl can wonder can't she?"

"I think this is just the sort of thing Rogue needs," Kitty said, grinning at the scene before her.

"But, Kitty," Rahne pointed out, "Rogue can't touch."

Kitty looked down as Rahne pointed that fact out. But still, she couldn't help but be intrigued.

Rogue and Simon were still looking at each other, with pleasant neutral faces rather than smiles. But if felt right. And they were looking at each other, face to face, looking into each other's eyes, wondering what secrets lay hidden behind them, was sort of soul was on the other side of the window.

However, their time was interrupted when they were startled by a loud whistle coming from where the game had taken place. Both teens snapped their heads up to see that the others were watching them, and their cheeks grew pink from being the center of attention.

The whistle was heard again, and they saw that it was Roberto who was doing it.

"What the hell are ya doin'?" Rogue demanded, going into her tough girl mode once again. Simon wasn't too happy either, for he too looked tough and pissed off, much like Rogue was.

"Way to go man!" Ray laughed, giving Simon a thumbs up, "You finally touched the untouchable."

"What?" Simon demanded, even though he had a good idea of what Ray was talking about.

"Why don't ya all go and leave us alone?" Rogue suggested angrily, "Before ah drain ya!"

Bobby and Ray looked a little uneasy at that. Roberto however, was ever confident and prideful. "The new guy has it bad for Rogue!" he called to all who could hear. Kitty and the other girls were surprised to see Simon's cheeks go pink from that.

"Ah would keep that ta yourself," Rogue hissed, narrowing her eyes at the cocky Brazilian boy, "Of you'll be Sunspot-less."

Simon leapt to his feet, aggression covering his face. "Does the Sunspot want his poking his nose where it doesn't belong to cost him an arm and a leg?" he asked dangerously.

Roberto didn't seem phased. "I'd like to se ya try!" he smiled irritatingly at Simon.

Hearing that, Simon decided to show Roberto he meant business. He raised his right arm, and seconds later, his eyes glowed blue and his arm molded itself into a glowing blue scythe.

The New Mutants, who hadn't seen Simon mold his body into bladed weapons before, were startled by this act. Simon looked really dangerous with his eyes glowing cobalt, and the blue fire blade added effect. "Does this give you any ideas as to how I'll try?" he asked threateningly at Roberto.

Seeing the flaming blue scythe and Simon's blue orbs along with Rogue's willingness to drain him of memories and powers, signaled by her lifting her ungloved hand, Roberto's courage and cockiness evaporated instantly. "I-I-I gotta run," he stammered, and took off for the mansion.

Satisfied the Brazilian had learned his lesson, Simon turned his arm back into flesh and his eyes lost their glow. He would never really use one of his blades on a person. But he wanted to look scary to get his point across.

"Wow, yah really shut him up," said Rogue.

"He was really irking me," said Simon, smirking back "I wanted to show him some manners."

Rogue smirked at him. "Ah think ya did more than that," she said. Simon smiled back at her. Maybe this girl wasn't so bad. She had a sense of humor after all.

"Well, I think Roberto will think twice before he pisses us off again," said Simon, giving her a smirk of amusement at Rogue's last comment. _And so will I._ Simon made a mental note not to piss off Rogue, cause he figured she'd drain him if he did, and that was the last thing in the world he wanted.

"Definitely," Rogue agreed. The smile on her face faded into a neutral expression.

"Well, Rogue," Simon muttered, "I guess I'll see you around."

Rogue recognized that as a sign that he was about to leave, and felt a little disappointed. She had enjoyed talking to him and the conversation, despite the rough spot in there, had been their deepest one yet. But she could understand as well if Simon had had enough. After all, she herself could only hold a deep conversation for so long, for she wasn't that good with people due to her loner nature.

"Yeah, see ya," she told him. Simon nodded, and then left the fountain to head back to the mansion.

Rogue sat there for a moment as she watched Simon's form getting smaller and smaller in the distance. She thought on the conversation they had had, and she couldn't help but wonder a little on it. Rogue was no expert in judging a person's personality by a single talk, but if this conversation was anything to go by, it was like Simon's personality had a dominant side to it, but also had other smaller facets to it as well. The main on was of a stern serious silent sort, much like Scott's only a little more so. But he had shown he could be angered, as well as crack a joke or two, even if it wasn't of the hilarious type like Kurt and Kitty were famous for making.

However, the part that she was still curious about was of how he had said he could relate to her. But how the hell could that work? After all, Simon had things on his powers she didn't. Simon could control his with his mind, which she couldn't, and his powers were so diverse and abstract that he could do a large number of things with them. He had the best of both worlds, which she didn't. So how in heaven's name could that relate to her? Was there a piece of the puzzle missing that she hadn't placed yet.

For a short moment, Rogue thought that maybe she and Simon were alike in some way. Wait. What was she thinking? What DID they have in common? They weren't exactly from the same class, but still a small voice in the back of her mind told her she was only looking skin deep, which the human race was notorious for. She silently scolded herself for thinking so shallow. But what was it about Simon that she didn't know yet? He was definitely a mysterious one.

Unknown to Rogue, Kitty had walked up to her while she had been thinking. And so silently that Rogue hadn't even been aware of her being there until she was right next to her. Kitty had left her group of girls and went over to Rogue, too curious and intrigued by what she had seen unfold to stay away.

"Rogue?" Kitty asked her roommate.

The words snapped Rogue out of her thoughts. "Kitty?" she greeted her.

"You alright?" Kitty asked, "You looked, like, in the next galaxy."

"Yeah," responded the goth, "ah was just thinkin',"

"About Simon?" Kitty asked, smiling.

Rogue's eyes widened at that. "Ah was not!" she said sternly.

"You're not developing a crush on him are you?" asked Kitty, ever so curious and ever so eager to hear about any possible romantic scenarios between other people.

"Kitty," Rogue snorted, "Yah know ah can't do that! How in the hell can ah be involved with someone if ah can't touch?"

"Sorry, Rogue," Kitty apologized, "I didn't mean for it to come out like that. I was only teasing."

Rogue looked down. "Well, we're only friends. Ah can't have anythin' more." With that, she got up and walked away, heading the way Simon had gone.

Kitty watched her friend's retreating back and could only shake her head. Not being able to touch was something she could never comprehend to live with. Sometimes she wondered how Rogue ever kept herself from going insane from that.

* * *


	16. There's Something Bad Going Down

**Chapter 15**

"**There's Something Bad Going Down."**

**S.H.I.E.L.D. Headquarters – 9:00 p.m.**

In a top-secret high-tech facility, far advanced beyond the conventional level of advancement of almost the rest of the country, and the world, Colonel Nicholas Joseph Fury, a powerfully built man in his late forties with graying hair and a black eye patch covering his left eye sat behind a large metal desk. The room was large, spacious, practically non-decorated, and had the air of being the residence of a brilliant leader and solider who knew how to led and protect like the back of his own hand.

The facility that he was in was of the state-of-the-art level in technology and people. Only the best of the best were allowed to participate in the matters that were observed, planned, and carried out, for this was where they dealt with threats that even the CIA and FBI were not able to deal with. Threats and problems of the magnitude were beyond the comprehension of the normal citizen and even most of the U.S. government. In fact, the knowledge of these were too great to be allowed to be known the public to avoid spreading needless attention and chaos due to fear. This organization, under Fury's leadership, was SHIELD, Strategic Hazard Intervention Espionage Logistics Directorate, SHIELD for short.

Colonel Fury currently was wondering if he should feel relaxed or tense right now. He wanted to feel relaxed, which was something that was a rarity for him, due to the nature and pressure of his job as director of SHIELD. After all, there had been practically nothing of great concern to the regards of the organization in the last few weeks. However, Fury's better judgment and gut instincts told him that this was the sort of calm before the storm. After all, calmness in the world of super-secret security could be shattered in the blink of an eye and could happen when you least expected it.

Fury had followed his gut instincts pretty much all his life, even before he had joined SHIELD, and practically every single time, the shot they had fired had hit the bull's eye. Rules had to be followed, which applied Fury himself for even leaders were forbidden to cross the line, but his instincts and genius-level leadership skills were his greatest tools. Sometimes rules didn't do the job they were supposed to. Knowledge and skill always did.

During the past several years of Fury's time spent as supreme commander and top agent, the threat of other organizations whose power equaled or possibly even surpassed SHIELD's had grown. These organization's, whose interests were as far from the safety of the public as one could imagine, included Hydra, an international terrorist organization deeply involved with genetic engineering and experimentation forbidden by the ethical laws of modern science and the development of illegal weapons and technology. Another organization, whose threat was almost as bad, but not as obvious, was the Hellfire Club, which also had ties and locations all around the globe, whose intentions were not entirely clear, but sinister nonetheless. Fury had been working practically non-stop over the last few years looking for ways to bring groups like that down, those two especially, but with security like they had, it was next to impossible. And impossible was a word Fury hated.

Fury picked up two large folders, one of which was labeled "Hellfire Club." The other was a list of the most wanted criminals in SHIELD's database. Seeing both of these folders reminded Fury of mutants, which was another thing he knew about that the general populace did not. Mutants had been known to SHIELD for years, and Fury had more than his fair share of experience with them. Hell, one of SHIELD's tasks was to capture and incarcerate rogue mutants who were dangers to others. In fact, he even had mutants working under him as secret agents and combat warriors. While most major branches of security would spit on the idea of mutants working for them, Fury was above such things. Being super-secret had its advantages.

For a few minutes, Fury looked over the files and felt he needed an update on progress regarding these two. After ten minutes of reading and thinking, he pressed a button on his communications system. "Lieutenant Hinson," Fury contacted one of his staff.

"Yes, Colonel?" asked the male voice on the other end of the line.

"Has Agent Sage reported back in from her latest infiltration of the Hellfire Club's New York Branch?"

"Affirmative, Sir," said Hinson, "She reported in less than an hour ago."

"Good. I want to see her and Agent Bishop in my office right away. There are some things I need to discuss with them."

"I'll send them right away, Sir," Hinson answered, and then signed off.

After turning off the system, Fury went back to his studying of the documents. Of the list of criminals SHIELD most wanted to capture, there were four of which he was interested in, one of which because he had been broken out of SHIELD's clutches by means unknown. But all four of the criminals he was looking into had one thing in common. They all had been affiliated with Hydra. And since they came from three different nations, that gave one a pretty good idea how far Hydra's reaches went. As for the Hellfire Club, he would need to hear what Agent Sage had to say before he thought any further.

Just then, the chime on Fury's door rang. Fury looked up from his desk and gazed at the door. "Come," he called to whoever it was.

The doors slid open, and two figures, a man and a woman stepped inside. The woman was tall, slender and full-figured, with shoulder length jet black locks hair that ended in slight curls, skin as white as porcelain and vibrant blue eyes that seemed to glow and radiate with intelligence and knowledge. She was Agent Sage, a mutant with a mind that functioned like a computer; able to store and process huge amounts of information within her mind, and a memory so perfect she remembered everything down to the slightest detail. Sage was also a telepath, and could even analyze the mutagenic fields of other mutants, which allowed her to bring their mutant powers to their full potential quickly, jumpstarting them to full levels of advancement.

Agent Lucas Bishop, the man with her, was of African-American decent with chocolate-colored skin. A shoulder-length mop of black dread locks and a mustache and beard framed his dark face, black eyes as dark and deep as a moonless night surveying the world. He was big strong man, six and a half feet tall at 223 lbs, massively muscled with a body as well-developed as that of a professional NFL football player. Like Sage, he was a mutant as well, possessing the ability to absorb any form of kinetic energy directed at his body without harm and then rechanneling it into amplified physical strength, speed, and stamina. He could even focus that energy through his hands, firing it as destructive plasma bursts or concussive force.

Fury looked at the two mutant agents, and then motioned to the chairs in front of his desk. "Agent Sage, Agent Bishop," he greeted them.

Sage and Bishop both nodded. "Colonel Fury," they responded.

"Please sit," he told them. They complied.

After looking at their blank faces for a few moments, Fury decided to cut to the chase. "I think there's no point in beating around the bush, so let's just cut to the chase shall we. There're some things we need to discuss," he said, "I've made some theories regarding some of the people currently under our surveillance. I'm hoping I'm wrong, but unless I'm proven otherwise, I can't say anything for certain." He then turned to focus specifically on Sage.

"Sage," Fury told her with a tone that left no room for nonsense or pleasant conversation, "I know you got in less than an hour ago, but I need to know how your current status is of finding out what we need to know about the Hellfire Club in the New York City area."

"I'm trying my best to get the information that we need," reported Sage, "But I'm afraid it's more difficult that I first anticipated."

Fury wasn't really expecting Sage to provide him with concrete details, for he had a fairly good idea on how tight Hellfire security was and that made gathering information difficult. Nevertheless, he felt a sense of disappointment well up in him. "May I ask why?"

Sage's expression didn't even flinch at the question. "Well, Colonel," she explained, "For one thing, the person who has the information that you're asking me to acquire is the leader of the Inner Circle. I'm sure you know who I'm talking about."

Fury nodded. He knew too well. "Yes, the Billionaire industrialist Sebastian Shaw," he recalled, "I have a pretty good idea on how much of a bastard and hardhead he can be, but I still want to know why."

Sage sighed in exasperation. "He doesn't trust me enough," was her short answer.

Bishop looked at his partner with confusion on his face. "He doesn't trust you?" asked the beefy man, "Sage, You've been inside the Hellfire Club for the past four months and now you're saying that Shaw still doesn't trust you?"

"Trust me, he doesn't," she replied, "Frankly, I don't think he trusts anyone. Even his own son Shinobi."

"Haven't you tried asking him for it?" asked Fury, "if he didn't disclose it to you as part of your undercover role, maybe you could ask him for it."

Sage shook her head vigorously. "I can't do that. That's risky. If I were to ask him for things he didn't trust me with or disclose to me deliberately Shaw would become suspicious of me. He would then have be watched as closely as could be, then it would be impossible for me to do my job."

Fury and Bishop both sighed. They had expected Sage's role to take time to build up in order for her infiltration assignment to work, but this was slower than they had anticipated. For one thing, four months and passed and they still seemed to be on square one.

"And quite frankly, Colonel," said Sage, "I'm starting to think that Shaw is suspicious of me already."

Fury looked worried at that. "Why? You, didn't give him any unintentional hints as to why you're in the Inner Circle did you, Sage?"

"No. It's the fact that I'm leaving the Hellfire Club complex during the night sessions, which most of the others stay at until dawn breaks. And because Shaw is the leader of the Inner Circle, he becomes suspicious of anyone who isn't totally loyal to it. Since the Inner Circle's members are so discriminatingly elected and 'persuaded' as they so ironically call it, he feels that they only have total loyalty. He may be questioning my false loyalty. And once Shaw feels suspicious, it's next to impossible to convince him otherwise."

Fury contemplated Sage's words. This was not the way it was supposed to be going. Not at all. The Hellfire Club was as masked an organization as could be. To the public at large it was a wealthy person's club, a place where only the unimaginably wealthy and powerful were welcome. But that was simply a façade, a shroud of deception constructed to hide something infinitely more sinister and diabolical. The exact nature of that was unknown even to SHIELD, but the fact that it was there was enough to make them stop it, which was the main specialty of the organization.

Sage had been working at SHIELD for the last several years, and apparently, under the instructions of not one, but two men. Nick Fury and Charles Xavier. Xavier had known Sage long before Fury when he met her in Afghanistan years ago. Sensing her powers with his telepathy, he had taken her to his school, apparently not yet having teenage or child students, and had trained her, giving her astounding control of her powers.

However, Xavier had known of the Hellfire Club back then as well, which had been in power ever since the late 1700s, and had been keeping a close eye on it as best he could out of fear of what the club was doing with its resources and members. Part of that fear was that most of the members of its ruling council were mutants, and powerful ones as well. And apparently, that had attracted the attention of Nick Fury as well, and that brought Xavier and Fury together in a rather unexpected fashion. Through classified means, Fury had learned of Sage, and had approached her with an invitation to work for SHIELD as an undercover agent for top-secret assignments.

Apparently, that was the same time she was considering joining Xavier at his institute as he recuperated form the loss of his legs in Afghanistan. When she had talked with the both of them later on, it turned out that Xavier had hoped to not only train Sage in the use of her powers, but also to "spy" on the Sebastian Shaw of the Hellfire Club, who apparently, was a target of suspicion for Fury as well. After much discussion and thought, an agreement was reached. Xavier had been suspicious of Shaw, not only because of his mutant powers, but also for his vast wealth and power and what he would use it for. But if his suspicious proved justified, he would have needed a means to bring Shaw to justice, and that was where SHIELD would be handy. Sage agreed to train under Xavier and then join SHIELD, under the condition that both men would be informed of her findings. While Fury was uneasy on that, he knew Xavier could keep a secret, and with that, things had finally been ironed out.

Bishop was of a somewhat different background. Years ago, Bishop had been a top gun police officer in the Los Angles Police Department. He'd manifested his abilities of kinetic energy absorption and projection years before, but managed to keep them hidden. As long as he didn't fire the energy, and only use to fuel his strength, he did a good job of hiding it. He liked beating the shit out of people who deserved it, which was one reason why he became a cop to begin with. And for years, that was his profession.

But later on, when SHIELD, having obtained knowledge of him by means unknown, offered him to work with them and bring down the biggest assholes in the world and the worst criminals ever to set foot on Earth soil, he couldn't turn that down if he wanted to. He had quite the force and had joined up in SHIELD, where he could use his powers to their fullest. Working with a super-secret CIA group was his idea of a good career.

Sage continued to inform them of her findings. After finally being accepted into the Inner Circle, which was the first step of the mission, Sage's progress had been slowed due to Shaw's ruthless and non-trusting nature, which was actually one of the reasons of his major success as an industrialist.

"How much information have you received then?" asked Bishop, whose face was scrunched up with the thought of his partner being in that notorious group without him by her side. During their years as SHIELD agents, Bishop and Sage had formed a fast friendship, and perhaps, it was deepening into something more.

"Not much I'm afraid," Sage responded sadly, "But I've gotten a bad feeling by who he's allowed into the Inner Circle."

Fury's mind froze at those words, sensing a very bad omen behind them. "Tell me more," the Colonel pressed.

Sage realized what she had said, and almost mentally slapped herself but stopped, for she would have told him eventually. "Well," she said, "I've known that Shaw was a mutant before I attempted to join," she said. Both Bishop and Fury nodded. "Well, from what I've seen, he's been letting certain members of the Inner Circle's members go with reason. At first I thought it was because he didn't trust them, but when they joined I learned that they're mutants as well."

The air was silent, and that meant only one thing. Trouble was brewing. "Do you know much about these new members and their powers?" asked Fury.

Sage looked at her boss with deep eyes. "Well," she reported, "One is Harry Leland, a cooperate lawyer, I might add, who as the power to increase the mass of any object he sees. Shaw gave him the position as the Inner Circle's Black Bishop due to his excellent financial management skills and knowledge of economic matters. He made his own son, Shinobi Shaw, the Black Rook, for some unknown reason. There's some blonde named Emma Frost, who's a telepath with the power to turn herself into indestructible crystal, and Jason Wyngarde, who's a psychic like Frost, but of some other type. Then there's some guy named Donald Pierce, who isn't a mutant, but from what I've seen, he could be trouble as well."

"What makes you think this Pierce guy is so bad?" asked Bishop, "Something he's good at or some connections he has?"

"For one thing, this Pierce is filthy rich, which is hardly surprising since almost all of the members of the Inner Circle are, but I've discovered that he's a cyborg. He has arms and legs artificially constructed of robotics and armored with something that really makes me worry."

"Go on," said Fury.

"Adamantium."

Fury's worry was growing by the second. He didn't like where this was heading. Not at all. He wasn't surprised by the fact that Shaw had let previous members go, for a man of his type would definitely do that, even if it wasn't for a good reason. But all these new members, all mutants with formidable powers, and also some guy rich enough to get a hold of adamantium cybernetics. Adamantium wasn't something that cold be gotten easily. Hell, only a handful of people on Earth knew it existed and even fewer knew how to produce it. If Pierce know how to get it, that couldn't be good. Fury knew of only one organization around who could produce that unbreakable metal. Hydra.

But if all these new members were mutants, then something had to going on. The Hellfire Club was always in search of ways of increasing it's wealth and power, and mutants certainly could be used for that sort of thing. But to what end? It sounded bad.

"Could it be that your being a mutant made it easier for you to get accepted?" asked Bishop.

Sage nodded. "Without a doubt." What Sage didn't want to mention was the outfits that the Hellfire Club's dress code required women to wear, which consisted of capes, panties, corsets, and high, lace-up boots. Sage was never one to dress in such a way, and doing that around someone as contemptible as Shaw and that spoiled son of his made her feel dirty. It was something she would rather not talk about.

"I don't like this," said Fury, "Knowing the Hellfire Club and their motives, I think there's a major scheme at work here."

"What kind of scheme?" asked Bishop, "You think they're planning something here?"

"There's no doubt, Bishop," said Sage, "I know what my gut tells me, and I'm telling you those bastards could be up to something bigger than we think."

"This isn't good," Fury mumbled, "Do you have any idea as to what they're planning?" he asked.

Sage shook her head once more. "No, Shaw's made no mention of a 'master plan' here, nor has anyone else there, but I have a feeling he is and isn't saying anything about it to anyone. And until he does, there's no more info on Shaw to give."

Fury leaned back in his chair and sighed with disappointment. Another meet-up with Sage, and some good information had been given, but not what he needed as legal motivation to bring that place down.

"By the way," said Sage suddenly, "Shaw is suspicious of another person there."

Fury looked interested in this, as did Bishop.

"Who is this person?" asked Fury.

Sage looked uneasy at talking about this person, and that didn't give either Bishop or Fury comfort in the news. That probably meant there was more here that simply Inner Circle planning. "Her name's Selene," Sage admitted finally, "She's the current Black Queen of the Inner Circle, and let be tell you, she's a real bitch."

"Why is Shaw suspicious of her?"

"The same reason he's suspicious of me," said Sage, "Because she's leaving the club at night for long periods. In fact, she's doing it even more so that me. But Shaw isn't so shaky with her as me."

"Wait a minute," said Bishop, holding up his hand. "You just said that this Selene is doing what you're doing to a higher degree, and yet Shaw isn't as suspicious of her. Well, how does that work?"

"Frankly," Sage Sighed, "I don't know exactly, but she's important to Shaw and whatever he's doing. The two of them don't like each other, I'll tell you right now, but because their both as ruthless as conquerors and high-ranking members, they don't really think so much of other as a threat like me. I'm not as harsh as they are, so I think they're seeing that as a sign that I'm hiding something."

For a moment, the three SHIELD members were silent and couldn't speak due to the overloading information to be processed by their brains.

Finally, Fury broke the silence. "Well, you two," he said in his best commanding voice, "I think there's nothing more we can do now but wait on the Hellfire Club issue. We can't really get into that unless we can irrefutable proof of a masterminded scheme here and we need more information to do that." Fury looked at Sage with a hint of regret in his eye. He didn't want to tell her to do this, but he had to in order to not put the mission in jeopardy. "Sage," he told her.

"Yes," she answered, "I'm afraid I'm going to have to ask you do something I really don't want to."

Sage was suddenly uneasy. Whenever someone said something like that to you, it always meant you weren't going to like it. But when someone like the head boss of something like SHIELD did that to you, you had to prepare for the worst fate could throw at you.

"If Shaw is becoming suspicious of your leaving the club so often," said Fury solemnly, "then I think you need to leave it less often."

Bishop leapt to his feet. "Colonel,----," he began, but Sage silenced him with a hand on his.

"Why?" she asked Fury, feeling more than a little uptight on this.

"If your leaving the club so often is causing Shaw to not trust you, then that's putting the mission at risk, and you as well. If you didn't leave so often, then perhaps Shaw will learn to trust you more and possibly give you the info you need."

Sage thought on that. It held logic. That could possibly work in her favor. As for the part of being safer herself, it could make Shaw ease the number of eyes watching her every move, which could reduce the risk of being caught in the act. Sage nodded.

Fury looked at his two mutant agents and spoke with a deep dark tone of danger. "If what we've learned is anything is to go by," said the SHIELD commander, "There's something bad going down."

* * *

**Sinister's Complex, 11:00 p.m.**

"I hope that those I sent you are living up to your expectations, Mr. Sinister."

"Oh, they are," Sinister answered, "I will have need for their unique abilities soon. Very soon. It's truly a pleasure to work with you, Viper." Sinister was currently sitting in his large, throne-like chair in the main laboratory in his complex. Before him was veiwscreen a large as dining room table, taking nearly half a wall of computer. On it was an image of a lovely, yet eerie woman with dark green eye shadow and lipstick and green-dyed hair. The green was so unforgiving that it reminded whoever saw it of poisons, toxins, and venoms. And that was exactly the intention of the color.

"Well," Sinister suddenly corrected, "I haven't had the need for their services yet, but soon I will. After all, the things that I will be wanting will be rather hard to acquire, and those you sent for me are truly ideal ones for getting them for me."

"I do hope you haven't forgotten our agreement," said Viper, her eyes taking a darker, more serious look, less welcoming that before, which wasn't welcoming at all, "I don't just lend my minions without a price. So I expect to be paid no less than what I demand."

"Yes," Sinister admitted calmly, "I will share my secrets with you. And trust me, Hydra will benefit from them more than you can care to imagine."

"I hope so," said Viper, smiling like her namesake. And with that, the screen went blank.

Always so impatient to improve your power, Viper, Sinister thought to himself as he climbed out of his chair. Any normal man who had been sitting in the chair for as long as he had would probably have stretched themselves out to loosen up their joints. But Sinister's malleable body didn't need such actions, for it never stiffened up from long-term immobility.

The immortal geneticist fixed his gaze over at a large door at the far side of his lab. A massive door, with a special DNA, fingerprint and retinal scan identification lock, was what it was. For behind it lay what Sinister considered to be among his most precious items. And work.

Without even thinking of self-denial, Sinister walked over to the door, his long cape-like strips of black cloth trailing behind him under his large tall collar, the light of the lab glinting off his black armored bodysuit and whitening his already chalk-white face. He approached the lock release terminal beside the door.

He raised his left hand, and placed it on the flat panel there. A greenish line passed over his palm and fingers underneath as a red scanning light passed over his entire hand from above. This would scan both his DNA and fingerprints. A row of three red lights sat on the top of the terminal. Two of them turned green, indication that two of the required locks had been released.

Sinister then bent down and put one of his red eyes to a small transparent lens. A bright light shined into his eye as it looked over his retinal pattern. With that, all three of the lights were green and the door opened. Inside lay a large room.

Sinister walked into the room carefully, a mixed feeling of excitement and disappointment welling up his in chest. It was here where he had made huge leaps with his work, and huge failures as well.

At the center of the large chamber was a massive computer with a built-in station to type information and calculate scans. This computer was connected to a large cylindrical chamber that was open on one side and had bizarre mechanisms with projection and transmission apparatuses built into them, pointing to the chamber like laser blasters targeted at an unmoving victim. AND to the immediate right of all that were several large glass chambers, cylindrical in shape and tall. The glass they were made of was bulletproof, and they were all empty, save for breathing masks an intravenous tubing eeling into their empty interiors for their sides. Had these glass chambers contained a specimen, they would have been filled with suspension/chemical bath solutions and the breathing masks and tubes would have been hooked up to that being, feeding nutrients into their arms and flowing oxygen into their lungs, keeping them alive while suspended in a liquid environment.

What Sinister wanted more than anything was to have these glass chambers filled, with what he was planning to genetically engineer. It would have meant that he was making progress with his plans. Plans to bring mutant-kind to the ultimate expression and limits of their powers. That was what this was all about.

Right now, Sinister would have felt like he was where he belonged. In his opinion, the place a scientist belonged was in his lab and with his work. But now, he had only two of those criteria met. He was in his lab, but he had no real work. Well, work he wanted to do anyway.

There were certain mutants out there that he needed. But he had none of them in his grasp. Well, he had a few, but only a few. He needed more. And the four that were the core essence of his plans were not here. He didn't even have blood samples from them to work with. He was beginning to get impatient with that.

One look at the far wall of the chamber made frustration build up in Sinister. There were large storage containers, two-dozen of them at least, lined up in a row on that wall. Each of them contained an organic specimen suspended in a formaldehyde preservation fluid. And each of them were dead. They had been simply stored there for future reference to Sinister's experiments. That was their only use.

Sinister looked over them carefully. The first one, containing a specimen the size of a two-year old child, was molted and deformed, hardly recognizable as humanoid, with an elongated head and right arm only a third the length of the left. The second was almost seven years old, but with hair longer than its body, and skin that was covered with dark blue boils that reminded one of bruises. The third had three arms, on extruding from its back and the entire body, a sickly greenish yellow, was bloated like a balloon as if filled with pressurized fluid. Each specimen was totally grotesque and ugly in its own way. It was sickening to Sinister.

Not from their appearances, but of what they represented. His past failures, his failed attempts to bring the genes of powers together like he wanted. SO much time, so much failure. To be reminded of it was totally exasperating to say the least. They hadn't been able to take the genetic work, and their bodies had collapsed in every way imaginable from the mutations.

But Sinister had hope, for now he was getting closer, and had better knowledge and tools at his disposal. If he only had the biological specimens he needed, then he could work on this more and be even closer to his goal.

A presence in the room brought Sinister back to the physical world, away from his thoughts. He sensed it with his telepathy. And he smiled, feeling better already.

He turned to see the slim, sexy form of the dark sorceress Selene standing in the doorway of the chamber, her vermillion lips curved in an evil smile and her onyx black eyes shinning with terrible sparkle.

"Selene," greeted Sinister, "How good to see you again. However, I would have thought you would have still been at the Hellfire Club."

Selene only laughed. "Well, I was," she answered dismissively, "But I just wanted to get away from that ignorant fool Shaw. He's always so concerned about money and getting more of it. The fool's delusion of money being power is something I'd rather not be around."

"I see," Sinister answered, smiling, "remind me again just why you go there?"

"Well, a woman has to have her pleasures," Selene smirked slyly, "and of course, since I'm the Black Queen, I can order people around like I so deserve to."

That last part got Sinister laughing, a cold evil roar of maniacal amusement. "Both you and I deserve to give orders. But soon, we shall be giving orders to those worthy of our orders. Those who worship us as their god and goddess, as their creators, as their masters and commanders."

"I like the way you think, Sinister," said Selene, "giving orders to those who use money as power is not worthy of a sorceress of my caliber, nor is worthy of a scientist of your genius."

"My dear Selene," Sinister smiled at the raven-haired sorceress, "you flatter me."

Selene only smiled deeper, her eyes glowing red as fire with her power. "You have no idea," she said suggestingly. Sinister was about to talk more, but then he saw two forms emerge into the light behind Selene. And once he saw them, his eyes narrowed with intrigue.

They were like dogs, the size of Irish Wolfhounds with the shape of Dobermans, but totally unearthly. The one to Selene's left was like a hairless Doberman with skin as black as tar, with a series of sickly yellow veins running over its epidermis like vines of clinging ivy. Rather than four legs, it had five, the fifth extending from its chest between its two front legs. The thing's eyes were yellow and glowing, and its mouth filled with viper-like fangs, a long eely tongue snaking out and dripping with green saliva.

The other one was totally different. It was like its musculature was on the _outside_ of its body, the crimson red muscles and flesh moving wetly with each movement. Along the exposed spine was a series of horny spikes that extended from the neck to the haunches, where a long tail, like that of an iguana curled with a life of its own. Red eyes glowed like fireballs, as the lower jaw of the lipless mouth split lengthwise and formed two quiver mandibles, a grotesque leech-like tongue coming out, the gapping orifice at the tip opening to reveal shark-like teeth and tiny tendrils like worms.

Any person in their right mind would have run for their lives, but these creatures intrigued Sinister. They didn't seem to be natural, but with a sorceress around, that was hardly surprising. "You've brought some visitors with you," he pointed out.

Selene only laughed. "You must mean my pretty puppies here," she said in a playful, yet dangerous voice. The five-legged one hissed, a loud resonant hiss that was like that of an angry cobra. The other, muscle-skinned one made a deep growl like a tiger, its mandibles curling and uncurling as it's lamprey like tongue squished upon itself, ropes of drool falling from its fangs.

Selene looked at the red muscled one, and hissed loudly at it, bearing her neon light-bright teeth into view. The thing's fanged tongue extended to her face, but stopped before it got there. Selene then made loud kissing sounds with her lips, as if leaning in to kiss the thing's appendage. However, the creature pulled its tongue back and pulled its jaws back together before she could.

"Precious aren't they?" she asked sinisterly.

"I admire you care for animals," Sinister said sarcastically, "Especially the supernatural ones."

Selene only laughed. "You should see what good pets they make," she joked, "And guard dogs. It's so entertaining to see them rip a victim's heart out. Or lick their blood up off the floor once their done tearing them up."

Sinister walked up to the five-legged dog thing, which began to hiss dangerously at him. "I've always wanted to study supernatural wildlife," he told Selene.

"How fortunate that I can provide it for you," Selene answered.

Sinister reached out to touch the black vein-covered skin of the creature, but as his hand got within biting range, the dog thing lashed out and took a big bite out of his hand.

"Aaarrhhh!" Sinister shouted, more in rage than in pain. He pulled his hand back. The middle and ring fingers were now gone, and the hand itself had a huge chunk of it bitten off, all the way to the wrist. Bright green blood and flesh pulsated sickly. But at that moment, the hand healing itself, the flesh growing back and the fingers returning. IN less that three seconds, the hand was as good as new. "You're lucky I heal fast," Sinister hissed at the stupid creature.

Selene looked at the offending creature with anger. "You miserable piece of shit! You'll pay for your insolence!" At that, Selene's eyes glowed red again, and she raised her hand, red energy surrounding it. A red beam shot form her hand, striking the five-legged creature. At that moment, the creature was enveloped in a red haze and was howling in what could only be called pain, even by supernatural standards. Selene kept it up for two minutes, then let up. The dog-thing got to its five feet, and this time was quiet.

"Mangy animal," Selene spat, "You train it to behave, then it pisses on your shoe. When will demons learn to obey their mistress?"

"Maybe I could use some of my torture techniques," Sinister suggested, "maybe that will train it."

Selene smiled at that. "I think that the next time you misbehave," she told the abomination, "I'll leave you in Sinister's tender loving care." The words were laced with sarcasm. But the demon animal was intelligent enough to see the threat. It bowed its head in miserable defeat.

After the animal had quieted down, Selene looked back to the black-hearted scientist she had come to know so well. She decided to show a little, shifting the weight of her body to one foot so she stood in a provocative stance.

"I was merely looked at these disgusting failure's of mine," Sinister said, gesturing to the storage tanks on the far wall, "but your beauty can always brighten my day."

Selene smiled that chilling grin of hers again. "Why do you spend you time with this wastes of flesh? When you could be doing so much more?"

"I need the mutants who have what I need," answered Sinister, "But until I have them I have to work with the resources I have. I was about to go and collect from out three 'guests' when you arrived. You could join me. After all, they can be unnecessarily feisty. And you have a way of getting them to calm down."

Selene knew what he meant, and smiled again. "How romantically 'sinister'," she cracked.

Sinister laughed at that joke, and the two of them left the room in search of their "guests", the two demon dogs following them.

In another part of Sinister's complex, in a cold dark corridor, practically devoid of light and warm, was a holding cell. Within its cold featureless confines, three young people, no older than sixteen, resided, two girls and one boy. They were cold, tired, and scared, as well as hungry. They were thinning and growing weaker by the day. And around each of their necks was a shiny yellow collar with a red light on it. These three young mutants couldn't access their powers with them on.

The boy, named Neal Shaara, was sixteen, and was of East Indian nationality, with darkly tanned skin, jet-black hair and eyes, and handsome features. AS a mutant he had the power to fly and to fire powerful blasts of concussive force and super-heated plasma form his hands. He was leaning back against the wall

Sitting with him was an attractive sixteen-year-old Native American girl with long flowing locks of black hair falling down to her slender waist named Danielle Moonstar, a psychic able to read minds, as well as bring out other's fears into life-like images.

And on one of the bunks of the cell, fast asleep, was a girl of fifteen, who had a strikingly different appearance. She had long magenta-colored hair and had skin of the same hue. Her ears were pointed, like those of an elf, and had bright green eyes as well, even though they were closed. Her name was Clarice Ferguson, a mutant who power was to create portals that could teleport anything and anyone across great distances, and to create energy lances that could teleport targets away or destroy them on a molecular level.

All three of them had been here in Sinister's lab complex for the past month, and they were scared out of their young minds. Neal had been in his homeland of India six months ago, but fate had given him a hard slap when his rich family had been killed in a house fire. Neal alone had escaped and was captured as he had fled the blaze in the dead of night. Seized by terrible unseen hands, he was drugged and then taken away to here.

Danielle had a mysterious past. A long long time ago, she had been hiking in the canyon near Dark Hollow, the town where she lived. But during her hike she had fallen into a fissure in the stone and the unstable rocks and caved in trapping her. But miraculously enough, she didn't die. Instead, her body had powered down, her metabolism and blood pressure slowing, until finally, she was in a state of sleep not unlike death. How much time had passed, she didn't know, but the next thing she remembered was walking up to find herself strapped to a table in here in this terrible place, an IV pumping a nutrient feed into her arm and finding the scary man, Sinister, grinning at her like a shark.

Clarice was the most unfortunate of the three. Until seven months ago, she had been living in a orphanage in New York, for her parents had died in a car crash when she was seven. It had been a fairly good place to live, but then her mutation had kicked in. Her hair and skin had changed from their normal colors to the purplish-pink they were now. Her blue eyes had turned green, and of course her ears had changed as well.

Unable to hide her mutation, the others at the orphanage had quickly found out. They had called her things like "freak," "monster," and "thing" names that made her sound like something less than the sentient human being she was. After being beaten by some of the older children and staff, she had been thrown out onto the streets. But then, not five minutes later, a group of terrifying people had ambushed her that night, and had taken her away to Sinister's complex.

Now, six months later, they were still holding up. They had never really been outside this section of the complex, for it was here that they slept, lived, and ate, and where Sinister did the occasional scan and bodily test on them.

As Clarice slept soundly, Danielle and Neal merely sat and said nothing, for they didn't feel like talking. Nor did they want to. They were wishing to get out of here. But no one knew they were here. No one would come for them.

Suddenly, the cell door slid open with a loud whoosh. The sound awoke Clarice at once, her green eyes widening in surprise and fear. Neal and Danielle were already on their feet, anger and resentment steaming in her eyes. Clarice hurried to get as far away form the entering personnel as possible before the reached her. None of them could use their powers so that was not an option to defend themselves.

Sinister, the one they first saw when they arrived, stepped inside, carrying a large syringe in his right hand, and carrying to additional syringes in his left. Beside him was Selene, grinning like there was no tomorrow that the three frightened young mutants.

"Good evening," Sinister smirked at the youngsters, "It's time for your next blood test!"

"Please don't hurt us," Clarice begged, shaking with terror. She was so frightened she could hardly keep still.

"You let us out of here, you bastard!" Neal snarled at the grinning scientist, who pulled out a small device from his belt and tapped a flashing button on it. Immediately, the three teens felt pain wracking their bodies. It hurt like electricity burning through their flesh.

"You brats better behave," Selene smiled, "or my little doggies may accidentally rip you to pieces!" The two dog-things she had brought with her stepped into view, their demonic forms and salivating maws utterly alien. Danielle and Clarice both screamed at the sight of the monsters. Neal gasped and pulled back as far as he could.

Selene was delighted at the sight of their terror, she loved inspiring terror in her victims, or awe, depending what her intention was.

Sinister merely laughed and grabbed Danielle by the arm, yanking her up with his metahuman strength.

"Leave her alone!" Clarice shouted, and tried to charge Sinister. However, Selene, who had higher than average strength herself, grabbed the pink-skinned girl and slammed her against the wall.

Sinister took the syringe in his hand and jabbed it into Danielle's arm. Danielle shrieked. Sinister paid no attention to her cries and drew the syringe until the entire vial was filled with dark red venous blood. He let Danielle go, the girl holding her arm when the madman had stuck her. Thankfully it wouldn't leave a scar.

Sinister then got a new replacement syringe and proceeded to get blood form Neal and Clarice. After three minutes of struggling, he had what he needed. After that, Selene and Sinister walked out of the cell with the demon dogs at their heels. After the door was closed again, Sinister looked back at the three pairs of angry, yet frightened, eyes staring back at him.

"Thank you for your time," he cackled, "That's all I need from you now. So enjoy some time of peace and quiet."

"While you can," Selene added evilly. The two walked off.

* * *

And that concludes this chapter! The plot is thickening with each chapter, and the tension and danger are mounting as I speak! I hope this is getting interesting enough for you. And I hope you don't mind that I've added some more characters to the mix! 

Please Review! I must know what you think if I want to keep writing!

In addition, I've taken the advice of an author who's great at offering advice and I've done some redoing of my Character's powers. You will hav eto look at earlier chapters to see it in action, starting with the first and so onand working your way up. If you have questions, don't hesitate to send me a private message!

Lastly, there's a really good fic titled Knight's Calling by a good fanfic bud of mine called band20. It's an awesome fic with a great plot and characters, including a very good OC. However, it's in bad need of reviewers. So be courteous and take a look at it. I'm sure you'll love it!


	17. Nightmares

Hi there fellow writers and readers and reviewers! This is KSimonT-X with the latest update for "Downfall Blessings and Uprising Legacies." The story is evolving as it's going along, and I hope it becomes better and better with time. Here's the next chapter. Also, my previous chapters have been too long for their own good, so from here on out, with a few possible exceptions, I'll be trying to make them shorter, but I'm not perfect so remember that.

Oh and lastly, I have redone some concepts of my character's powers. If you want to see what I mean, refer to previous chapters, possibly from the beginning, and work your way forward. Feel free to send me a message if you have questions.

**AN: I would like to thank Agent-G for all the support and advice and great suggestions he's given me on this fic. He's helped me out a lot of things that could have escalated into some pretty bad jams, but thanks to him, I've managed to catch them in time.

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**Chapter 16**

**Nightmares**

**Xavier Institute**

It was now very late at night at the Xavier institute, it was nearing midnight and the moon and stars had come out to shine with all their glory. It had been quite a day for everyone at the institute, especially for their newest member, Raiden. It had been a day of seeing, learning, and new experiences for Simon, and a day of the others getting to know him better, even though it was at a relatively slow pace due to Simon's loner nature.

The New Mutants had gotten through their training session earlier that day with pretty good results, and quite a few of them were edger for tomorrow where they would start their training with the senior X-Men, and show them what they were made of. While most of them wanted a chance to show them who was tough and gruff, zeal could never substitute for actual experience.

As the day was drawing to a close, some of the members had turned in for the night, Ororo, Logan, Hank, and Xavier had all gone to bed, for they had to be up and at em' early in order to prepare for the first X-Men/New Mutant training session, which would happen first thing in the morning. The adults had also managed to talk the youngsters into going to bed early, for they needed the rest to be at their best when the time came. The New Mutants had been reluctant to say the least, for apparently their childhood desires to stay awake long after bedtime still hadn't subsided. Most of the senior X-Men were in bed now as well, but a select few, including a young leader who needed food in his stomach to sleep, were still up.

Scott was currently in the kitchen, fixing himself a late-night snack before he hit the hay. He stood at the counter, carefully spreading creamy peanut butter over a slice of whole wheat bread with a knife to make a sandwich. And of course, the cookie jar stood not too far away, which would help satisfy his sweet tooth should that ever come up.

As Scott busied himself with his food, he noticed a figure walk into the room, looking remarkably awake for this time of night. It was Simon, wearing his sleepwear, which consisted of black cotton pants and a black tank top.

At first Simon didn't notice the young leader who was fixing himself some food. Scott made himself known. "Hey, Simon," he greeted him.

The words made Simon immediately aware of Scott. He didn't exactly seem surprised by Scott being there, but his head snapped up anyway. "Oh, Scott," he replied, "I didn't see you there. What are you up to at this time of night."

"I could ask you the same thing," Scott answered.

For a moment, the two boys looked at each other, as if waiting to see who would speak next and preparing to pounce on any real reaction the other made. "You want to answer first?" Scott offered Simon.

Simon decided to go along with it. "I was coming done here for a quick bite before I hit the sack," said the energy-morphing teen, "and I do believe----," he added, eyeing Scott's food, "that you're doing the same thing."

"Got it in one," said Scott, "you're pretty observant." He said the last few words with half sarcasm and half seriously. "That could help you a great deal with your future Danger Room sessions."

"Ah, yes the Danger Room," Simon snorted, "I hope I don't have a recurrence of today's session when we go at again tomorrow."

"Still stressed on failing that exercise huh?" asked Scott, knowing how he felt.

Simon let out a sigh. "Am I that transparent?" he asked Scott with a frown, who only turned up a corner of his mouth in response.

"I was simply asking," said Scott.

Simon let out a big breath of air. "Well, I'm not AS stressed," he admitted, "But I still think I could have done better that I did." For a few moments, Simon was silent as he watched Scott finish his sandwich. Finally, he spoke again. "Scott," he said.

"Yeah?"

"Do you ever try your very hardest to do something, even if you're good at it, and feel like you could have done better afterwards?"

Oh, how Scott knew that feeling. He felt that way after practically every Danger Room session. He always felt that he could have done better, or succeeded on a higher level. And of course, there were the battles against the Brotherhood of Evil Mutants. He'd often felt they could have done better. And then there was the battle against the Scarlet Witch, which he still was getting over.

"All the time," Scott answered honestly, "I've tried for years to shake it off, but I've learned to live with it."

"Why?" asked Simon, looking curious.

"I've come to use it as a tool to teach me how to try harder," Scott explained, "It makes me rethink every situation, every outcome, every detail. It's something I've grown to do after every training session. Even the ones with unexpected portions."

Simon stood there at the counter contemplating Scott's words. He'd never really figured it that way before, mostly because he was a guy who hated to fail, even if it was his first time. That had caused him a lot of unnecessary discomfort in the past. _I could really learn a lot from this guy_, Simon thought.

"Well, I'll sure keep that in mind," Simon said, turning to open the fridge. Scott had taken a seat at the table and started to eat his sandwich. "You wouldn't have any Mountain Dew here would you?" asked Simon, looking through what he saw.

Scott's eyebrows rose as he looked at the clock. "Mountain Dew? Simon, it's almost midnight."

"So what?" asked Simon in response.

"What do you mean 'so what?'" Scott shot back at him, "Mountain Dew is drink for a time when you want to be awake, not when you want to be asleep. Would you really drink it at this time of night?"

"Wouldn't be the first time."

"You mean you've done it before?" asked Scott.

"I once drank a whole 2-liter bottle of Mountain Dew at one in the morning," said Simon, smiling like he was proud of it.

"You what?" Scott asked incredulously, "How long did that keep you awake for?"

"Not too many hours," Simon answered, looking down, remembering what a miserable school day the following day had been.

"See," said Scott smirking at Simon in triumph, seeing him indirectly admitting it was a bad idea, "You shouldn't drink that stuff at this time of night."

"What can I say," sighed Simon, "It's an addiction." He continued looking for the fridge for any Pepsi product that wasn't of the diet sort. Finding none, he pulled out the milk instead. "Well, I guess this'll do," he announced as he poured himself a glass. He also reached into the cookie jar, pulling out some cookies, some for himself and some for Scott.

"So, how's like treating you here?" asked Scott, as Simon sat down at the table.

"Let's just say that I had an…" he paused hoping to get the right word out, "interesting day for me. I've seen the Danger Room, the entire mansion, which in my opinion is like a state-of-the-art training facility, and then there's all the commotion around here with a bunch of kids running around with powers firing all the way."

"Well," said Scott, smiling as he thought of how Simon would react to what he was about to say, "This was one of the less destructive days here."

Simon's eyebrows rose. "What do you mean by 'less destructive?'" he asked.

"We're still trying to get the New Recruits to keep their powers down, but this still like to go all out with their powers. And when they do that, it's usually followed by pretty expensive repairs more often than not."

Simon put two and two together. "Yeah, I can see how that would work," he said, "From what I saw at the game of Frisbee today, I don't really think they realize how destructive powers can be."

"Yeah, but we're hoping to fix that and soon," said Scott.

Simon was carefully looking into Scott's eyes, or trying to, as he spoke. Simon could see his own reflection in those ruby red shades and suddenly realized that Scott had never taken them off. And he also realized that he had never asked anyone why.

"Scott?"

"Yeah?"

"I just realized that I've never seen you without your shades ever since I got here. Not even in the Danger Room. Why is that?"

Scott looked a little uncomfortable as Simon spoke those words. He had never really liked talking about it in the past, mostly because it brought back memories of when he lost his parents and supposedly lost his little brother. Seeing the look on Scott's face, Simon immediately realized he'd hit a sensitive spot on Scott's mind. He suddenly wished he hadn't said anything.

However, before Simon could say that Scott didn't need to talk about it if he didn't want to, Scott spoke up again. "You see," the young leader explained, "Back when I was young, before my mutant powers manifested, I was flying with my parents and little brother in a plane."

"You have a brother?" asked Simon.

Scott nodded. "Yeah, his name's Alex. Anyway, there was a fire in the plane and all the cutes were gone but one. My parents tied me and Alex into it and pushed us out. But the chute caught fire and we had a crash landing. My parents were both killed, my brother was lost. As for me, I got a head injury that caused some slight damage to my brain. And as a result of that head injury, I lost my ability to turn my powers on and off."

Simon looked surprised at that. Before he'd figured that Scott simply wore those for looks, or perhaps some eye condition that made seeing with his eyes alone dangerous or painful. But he'd never would have thought of that had Scott not told him.

"So those aren't ordinary glasses are they," he stated.

"Nope, ruby quartz. It's the only stuff that can safely disperse the power of my optic blasts without causing damage to anything."

"I'm—sorry about that," said Simon honestly.

"It's taken some time," Scott admitted, "But I've come to live with it. Though it gets tiring of seeing everything through a red haze all the time."

"Yeah, I bet," said Simon. He suddenly wondered how he could take it if the only color he saw was blue, which was the color of his energies. He sure didn't want that to happen.

Simon passed Scott half of the cookies he had taken from the jar. "Here're some cookies," he offered.

"Thanks," Scott thanked him, taking the offered treats.

Simon popped one into his mouth and started to chew it. He was taking a drink from his glass of milk when something, or rather someone, unexpectedly appeared.

BAMF!

A puff of sulfurous smoke and the stench of brimstone filled the air as Kurt teleported into the kitchen right beside Simon. Simon's mouth came away from his glass, the milk spilling over his front as he toppled off his chair.

Kurt was unaware of how his entrance had taken affect on those around him, and immediately noticed Simon lying on his back on the floor of the kitchen with spilt milk on him.

"Oh, I'm sorry mien friend," he apologized to Simon, offering the fallen teen one of his three-fingered hands to help him up.

"Man, Kurt," Simon grumbled, holding a hand over his heart, "What are you trying to do? Give me a heart attack?"

Kurt pulled Simon to his feet and looked at him sheepishly. "I just thought I'd grab a snack," Kurt told him, "But I thought to get here by zhe quickest vay possible."

Simon nodded after he pulled himself up. "Kurt, you really shouldn't port in front of people like that. It's----,"

"Annoying?" Kurt finished the sentence for him, glancing at Scott, who had a look that said, "you did it again didn't you." Simon nodded, wiping milk off his chin. "Yeah, I get zhat a lot." With that, he went to the refrigerator for some food.

"I thought you were in bed, Kurt," said Scott accusingly.

"I vas," Kurt admitted, "But I grew hungry."

"I guess teleporting really does take a lot out of you," said Simon, remembering Kurt's comment on his need for food at breakfast.

"You now it," Kurt admitted, not too ashamed of his appetite. For all he ate, he remained as fit and trim as an Olympic-Class athlete. Simon only shrugged.

"I hope zhere's no more of Kitty's leftovers in here," said Kurt hopefully.

"Last time I checked, they were long gone by some unknown reason," said Scott, even though he knew where they had gone.

"What?" asked Simon, looking confused.

"Kitty's cooking," said Kurt, "She likes doing it. But trust me, she needs a lot more practice!"

"Aw what's so bad on that?" asked Simon, "Food is food is food. Can't be all bad."

Kurt gave Simon a look that was so serious it made Simon think twice. "Trust me, it can be bad. If you'd tasted some of her food, you'd see it for yourself. " he said ominously.

Simon didn't like those words. He made mental note to be careful in the future, even though he had doubts.

"Well I just hope it isn't as bad as that stunt she pulled on me at breakfast this morning," Simon complained, thinking of how weak he had felt when he saw her look.

"Terrible isn't it?" asked Kurt, "Kitty is famous around here for her puppy dog eyes." And it was true, Kitty had used it one pretty much everyone. Not anyone of the New Mutants, bur all the senior X-Men had gotten it. Mostly because they were older than her and she had trouble convincing those who had the advantage of age on their side.

"No one told me about them," Simon continued to grumble.

Scott glanced at Simon, seeing how uptight he was to have fallen victim to those eyes. Scott suddenly wondered if being warned before hand could have helped. Sometimes being prepared for something worked. But then again, with a look like Kitty's, nothing did. Unless you had a heart as hard as rock and metal. "Do you honestly think you would have been able to say 'no' to her if you knew she was going to do that?"

Simon thought for a second, then shook his head.

"I thought not," Scott sighed.

"You'll get used to it," Kurt offered, sitting down with a snack of his own.

For a while, the three boys sat and talked, discussing the day, and what the plans were for tomorrow. They didn't eat that much.Well, Scott didn't at least. Simon and Kurt on the other hand, had a sandwich and banana each, along with another glass of milk to fuel their bodies and powers, which casued their metabolism to burn calories like a star burned its hydrogen through nuclear fusion. They talked about what they hoped to achieve over the course of the spring break, and also of who things there were to do in Bayville, which Simon listened to carefully, for Bayville was new place for him.

They also shared stories of their lives, which focused a fair amount around the negative details. Scott told Simon of the time he'd spent at the orphanage in Omaha, Nebraska, of what life was like, being bullied by the mean, older residents of the orphanage and the harsh Spartan rules made by the authoritarian staff members. He'd been treated harshly an awful lot, and then he was sent away to a hospital in solitary confinement which the staff had said, for his "'safety," even thought Scott felt they did for theirs rather than his. And finally, salvation had reached him in the form of Professor Charles Xavier.

Kurt's story was interesting as well. Kurt was from somewhere in Germany, which Simon had already figured, and had been raised by a kind couple named the Wagners, who had found him in a stream floating by. Simon had asked how he had gotten there, but Kurt avoided answering. The Wagners hadn't been repulsed by his appearance and had raised him like he was their own child, like unconditional love and care. However, due to Kurt's demon-like appearance, he had been home-schooled most of his life and couldn't go out and play with other children. But after he came to the institute, Kurt really was one to enjoy life to the fullest. And it shown clearly.

Simon also told them of his life. He had always moved around a lot, since his parents were scientific experts of the highest order and were constantly on the move due to the nature of their careers. Moving from school to school had never been easy for him, for he had always had trouble making friends, and the fact that his family was a very wealthy and respected one, that made things even more difficult. He had been looked upon as the "spoiled rich kid" by a lot of people, and they used that assumption as an excuse to stay away from him before they even knew him. Simon had hated that, but since he was a loner, it hadn't bothered him that much. And here at the institute, he felt more at home for so far, no one had counted him out due to his rich upbringing.

After they had exchanged stories for about half an hour, they realized it was late and they had to get some rest for the night to up and alive for the training session tomorrow.

"We'd better hit the hay," said Scott, "We have a DR session in the morning."

"Yeah, the Danger Room," sighed Kurt, "I almost forgot."

"Why do you do it so early in the morning?" asked Simon.

"It's a thing of Logan," said Scott, giving Simon a smile, "He likes to push you to the max."

"Doesn't seem to bother you, Mr. Fearless Leader" Simon pointed out, noticing how chipper Scott seemed at the thought of getting a hard morning session. A little too chipper perhaps.

"Scott's zhe dude of Danger Room sessions," Kurt explained as a matter-of-factly, "It's like a natural zhing for him."

"I'm not even gonna ask," Simon said, rolling his eyes.

"Besides," said Scott warningly, "You don't want Wolverine getting you out of bed."

And image of a raging Wolverine, with his adamantium claws drawn and a smug smirk on his face pulling him out of bed with the sheets around him popped into Simon's mind. Not a pretty picture.

"Right," he admitted, "I wouldn't want that."

Kurt chuckled. The three young X-Men then headed off to bed.

* * *

**Somewhere in Bayville**

Trent Havener was feeling great at the moment, and he had every reason in the world to. He'd just spent the last few hours hanging with his buddies in their favorite bar, which was equipped with its own nude dancing section. They'd smoked and drunk and laughed their asses off all night long and damn did that feel good.

Now here he was, walking back to his apartment several block away from the bar. It was dark and there weren't many cars around, so he didn't really have to worry about accidentally stepping into the street in his alcohol-induced wooziness and get squashed like a bug. Living so close to your favorite bar had its advantages in a big way. You didn't have to worry about driving, which was a real low deal in the world of alcoholism.

In the morning, he'd probably have on hell of a hangover, but at his age of thirty nine who had to worry about that. He wasn't married, nor did he have a girlfriend to smack him upside the head for making himself drunk as a skunk. When you were alone, things were easier than with a partner.

Maybe tonight, Trent had had too much to drink. His vision was slightly blurred, and his equilibrium was less than perfect. Was he unintentionally trying to set a record of how many of his brain and liver cells he could kill in one evening? The body could only take so much. He just hoped enough of his organ remained to get tonight's booze out of his system. He'd had fun and didn't want it to come with a price as high as the need for a liver transplant.

Trent walked as best he could past the houses and apartments that lined the street. The moon was out and the breeze was blowing gently, sending fallen leaves flying over the pavement and sidewalks. And since it was spring, the air was warm. In fact, it was warmer than most springs were around here. But for those who were fans of warm weather, regardless of what time of year it happened to be, that mattered not. But since Trent was worn out with all the partying he had done tonight and the toll the alcohol and nicotine were having on his system.

After several minutes of walking through the dark warm Bayville night air, Trent was nearing his apartment that was located on a corner of the street. His muscles felt like they were turning to jelly, and the jelly was getting mushier and mushier with every step he took. He couldn't wait to crawl under his sheets and let his body sleep it off.

"Hey, Handsome," a female voice reached his ears, "Need some company?"

Surprised by the voice, Trent looked at the source of the voice, and saw a woman, wearing a long black trench coat standing not seven feet from him at the foot of stairs leading up to his apartment. And she was about the most gorgeous woman Trent had ever laid eyes on. Her slender face was as sculpted as the most perfect bust of the goddess Venus, long raven hair flowing past her shoulders in dark waves of night, eyes as dark as the night itself peered at him as full vermillion lips smiled sultrily at him, revealed perfect teeth as white as pearls.

_Did I have more to drink than I thought_, Trent asked himself, _Or is there a god who finally decided to bless me? _The most beautiful woman he'd ever seen was asking him if he wanted company? There was a god!

Trent smiled sheepishly, and gathered himself as best he could, trying to look manly. He wasn't fat, for he spent a good deal of time at the gym working out to keep in shape, but in a hang over even super-athletes could look a floppy as a noodle.

"We-we-well," Trent sputtered, "I was just goin' up to my room. But you'd sure be welcome to come along?"

The woman smiled with zeal, those dark red lips reminding Trent of blood droplets on a rose. "You inviting me to have some fun with you?" she asked, shifting her weight form one foot to the other in a provocative pose.

Trent was feeling more stupid by the second, but before he could say anything, the woman merely smiled at him, fluttering her eyelashes. "I'd say yes," she whispered softly, licking her lips hungrily.

Trent could have died and gone to heaven at those words. God had blessed him tonight.

The woman walked up to him, swaying her hips in a sexual sort of way, and waved her hand over Trent's face. But what happened next was something Trent didn't expect. The wooziness faded, and he felt strength returning to his muscles. It was like his drunkenness was fading like vapor in the wind. Less that a few seconds later, he was feeling like his old self, and very energetic.

"Come on," she suggested, and pulled her finger out from under his chin, beckoning him up the stairs to go inside. He complied without a thought.

Once the two of them were inside Trent's apartment, Trent closed the door behind him and locked it. He knew that this woman, whoever she was, was in the mood for some "fun" as she put it, and he was going to make damn sure that she didn't leave until he was ready to be finished. And with his wooziness gone, that would probably be until morning!

Turning around, he expected the woman to be standing behind him, waiting to make his acquaintance. But surprisingly, he didn't see her. For a moment, he wondered, with sense of dread, that the alcohol from this evening had gone to his head so much that he was having hallucinations, and the beautiful raven-haired woman he'd let in was merely an illusion induced by the effects.

"In here," he heard a silky voice called to him.

Relief flooded through Trent as he heard the woman's voice call to him from his living room. It hadn't been the booze after all. _Thank the fates_, he thought merrily.

Trent followed the sultry sound into to the living room, and indeed, the woman was there. But Trent was met with an unexpected sight. The woman had discarded her black trench coat to reveal her attire underneath, and Trent took a minute to take it in. She was wearing a shiny black latex top that allowed a slight view of cleavage and left her right shoulder and flat stomach bare. Below that she wore sleek black latex tights with built in high-heels. The outfit displayed every curvy of her body in the perfect way. Trent was afraid he would drool.

The raven-haired woman walked up to Trent with a twinkle in her eyes and thin smile on her lips. Trent couldn't take this anymore. He had to know who she was. "Wh-what's your name?" he asked, mentally cursing himself for the stutter in his voice.

The woman's smile deepened, and her eyes grew mischievous. "You want to know who I am?" she asked, coming right up to him so that she could look right into his eyes.

Trent nodded eagerly.

"You worst nightmare," the woman answered.

Trent was surprised. What sort of a name was that? That was no name. And what the hell did she mean she was his worst nightmare when she was his dream girl?

What happened next made his face turn white with terror. The woman's sultry smile vanished, replaced with what was the most terrifying death glare Trent had ever seen on a person. It would make a lion cower in fear. Then her eyes glowed red, like flaming blood.

Trent's eyes widened in horror. This couldn't be happening. He opened his mouth to shout for help, but the woman raised her hand to his mouth, an eerie red aura surrounding it. Trent tried to scream, but not a sound escaped from his lips. He tied to make a sound, any sound, a squeak, a moan, a gasp, even a whimper, but it was like his vocal cords no longer functioned.

Something was way off here. He had to fight back. Trent raised one of his muscular arms and tried to strike the woman. But as Trent brought his arm to hit her face, the woman grabbed it, her face still covered with death's expression. And what surprised Trent further was the strength of the grip. The woman was holding onto his arm with bone-crushing force, like his arm was being held in a steel clamp being twisted tighter and tighter. Trent wanted to scream from the pain, but couldn't.

"You males," she hiss dangerously, eyes flaring, "Always with your muscles and might. It's so pathetically quaint!" Then, with a flick of her wrist, the woman snapped Trent's arm.

The pain was like a bomb going off in Trent's brain. The room started to spin with the sensation. But seconds later, he managed to see the woman bring back her hand and then strike him across the face, striking with the speed of a serpent. Rather than a hand, it was like being hit with a garbage sack full of bowling balls.

Trent felt the force lift him up off his feet and he was sent flying through the air, smashing to a bookshelf that smashed under his weight. The woman approached him with a glare that was nothing less than murderous.

"Your life is so useless," she growled venomously, "I hope your life force isn't so worthless."

Life force? Life is useless? What was she talking about?

"Snack time."

Trent tried to pull pack, the pain from his arm blurring his vision, but at that moment, the woman captured his head in powerful hands. Trent felt the pain suddenly subsiding, but his strength and awareness was fading as well. His heart was slowing, his thoughts, his mind, his breathing. It dropped like a stone. It was becoming harder and harder to remain conscious. The last thing Trent saw before he would forever fall into darkness was the evil red eyes of the woman who turned out to be his literal worst nightmare.

* * *

Selene looked at the miserable waste of flesh on the bookshelf before her. He no longer looked as human, but his flesh was now stony grey, his eyes milky and lifeless. His life was gone, leaving only an empty shell that most biologists would call a corpse. 

She had needed a little life force energy to keep her youth and beauty up. This little worm's life was a jump for a brief time, but she would need better victims later on.

She looked at the stone-like face of the dead man whom she had drained, then spat on him. Selene had left Sinister's complex not too long ago in search of someone to drain of life essence. It had been awhile since her last feeding and she had wanted to get a little bit of an appetizer before she drained a whole group of unknowing victims.

Frankly Selene was less than satisfied with this little creep. If he'd been a food morsel, he would have been as bland as a cracker or slice of bread. His drunkenness was totally stupid and the guy himself probably had less brains that an oyster in the ocean. But she didn't want to leave much of a scene with her victims, for she didn't exactly want people to really make a newspaper cover story of it. She would leave this waste of flesh here. No one would find him for a least a few days. If he was found they would think he merely died of alcohol poisoning or something else.

All in all, Selene didn't need to be concerned. She just hoped that next time she could have a more appetizing victim to drain. She liked the kind with rich, power-laced essences. Those really made her feel young and beautiful.

Without even looking at him again, she left the room, leaving the lifeless corpse behind.

* * *

_Simon smelled something. It was strong, and pungent, like a chemical or something like that. And it burned the insides of his nostrils. Then, a brilliant light was shining directly into his face, a real bright light, for it hurt his eyes even through his closed eyelids. _

_Opening his eyes and then sitting up right, Simon looked around himself, and what he saw shocked him. He wasn't in his room at the Institute, nor was he wearing his sleeping attire. He was in some sort of operating room, in a hospital, lying on the main surgical table, trays of medical instruments and cabinets filled with drugs and medicines all around. And he was wearing a white hospital gown that patients wore for surgery._

_The next thing he became aware of was the feel of something, maybe gauze or bandages wrapped round his torso and stomach, and he felt a slight stinging there. Simon's heart started to race as he pulled up the top of his hospital shirt, and the sight he saw made his blood run cold. His chest and stomach were wrapped in gauze pads and snow-white bandages, going all around his torso, his back, his sides, all around. _

_No! This wasn't possible. It couldn't be possible! It was in the past. Not now in the present. What was happening?_

_The heavy doors of the operating room suddenly pushed open with along swing. Several doctors, both male and female, came marching in, all dressed in surgical aprons, caps, and masks. The air in the room seemed to drop several degree in seconds as they entered, for Simon saw real cold and fierce looks in their eyes, like they were planning to do something awful._

"_Hello, Simon," one of the doctors, a man, spoke in greeting, his tone dark and dangerous._

_Simon's eyes darted from one doctor to the next, his fear growing with each second._

"_What's going on?" he asked fearfully._

"_Isn't it obvious?" asked another doctor, his voice just as venomous._

_Simon had no idea what these doctors, whoever they were, were talking about, but his gut was telling him that they were not in here to fulfill to Hippocratic oath to relieve pain and suffering. _

_The Doctor's gathered around the table Simon lay on, their eyes narrow with evil intention. Simon was starting to panic now. He hadn't been in a hospital, let alone an operating room, in over two years, and that last visit had been one he'd been haunted by ever since. And hospitals were nothing like this. _

"_It's time," another doctor, a woman, spoke, she pulled on her latex gloves, snapping the rubber into place as she pulled them on._

"_Time? Time for what?" Simon asked nervously, his heart racing._

"_They didn't have the spine to finish you, Simon," said the first masked doctor, "So we have to finish the job."_

"_I can't believe we were stupid enough to patch you up," said a new voice, "We should have finished you without even stitching you back up."_

_If Simon didn't now any better, he could have sworn certain areas under the bandages surround his torso were starting to itch, maybe sting. The sensation was faint, but now it was grow more and more intense with each passing second. What the hell was happening?_

"_I-I-I don't get it," Simon stammered._

"_You're such as brainless bastard, Simon," said a female surgeon, "This is obvious, yet you can't grasp it."_

"_This is a good news/bad news scenario, Simon," the head operator spoke up, this time, in a hideous, mocking tone of voice, like an evil hyena._

"_What?" Simon asked fearfully._

"_Good news for us, this town, the country, and the rest of the world," said one doctor, and especially her. What you did to her was worse than murder." He held up something in his hand that gleamed, and Simon paled when he saw it was a large syringe filled with dark red fluid that could only be blood, or something that looked like blood._

"_And the bad news," said a voice to Simon's right, "is yours. For now you can never show your mockery of humanity mug to darken a human's soul ever again." Simon looked at this one, and his fear doubled in two seconds. In this doctor's hand was a large stainless steel surgical scalpel, the blade gleaming._

"_But-but-what do you want?" Simon was on the verge of bolting up and running out the door, and the next words he heard were what drove him. _

_"__To see what your insides look like."_

"_NO!" Simon leaped off the table, the fiery sensation on his torso increasing, but he ignored it. All he wanted to do was to escape, leave the burning for later. Two of the doctors stepped in front of the doors leading out of the room, but Simon pushed past them, adrenaline surging through his blood like fire. He bolted out the doors._

_Beyond, the hall was long, eerie and forbidding, but there was nowhere else to go other than back to the operating room from hell. Simon ran as fast as he could down the corridor, his head and chest on the verge of bursting. He ran until he reached what was the lobby heading out of the hospital, he had to make it out. Once he was out, maybe he could run somewhere to get help. But he never got the chance, as groups of patients and doctors gathered around him. He was trapped. _

"_There's Simon Valley," he heard voices to his left, and saw some other doctors in lab coats and patients glaring at him like he was a thug, "The hell spawn!"_

_"No!" Simon shouted frantically, trying to convince them he was a human, "I'm a person! I'm not like that?" He was paralyzed, all the eyes on him, which were now glowing white like stars, all showing nothing but hatred and malice towards him. It was more crushing that any physical weight._

"_Why did you take everything from them, Simon?" asked one of them, "Why did you act so selfishly?"_

"_I-I was trying to help?" Simon protested._

"_Help who? Them? Or yourself?"_

_"You hurt them, Simon," came a new voice, "And you enjoyed it."  
"No!"_

"_That shows us what you are. You're worse than a killer!"_

"_No!" Simon cried, "It was an accident! I'm not a killer!"_

"_What are you then?" asked a voice._

"_A monster?"_

"_An abomination?"_

"_A thing?"_

"_A fake?"_

"_A freak?"_

_The names cut Simon's heart out with emotion. But now he found his strength leaving his body at a rapid pace. The images of faces and eyes started to spin and dizziness overcame him. He fell to his knees._

_Too weak to do anything except look on in terror, he saw the faces closing in._

"_You're not human! You're something worse than a demon!"_

"_You're a wolf in sheep's clothing, the viper that destroys all who care about him and thinks nothing of it!"_

_The pain in Simon's chest was now excruciating and the pain sent stars to his brain. As he looked down at himself, he saw red stains on his hospital shirt, which weren't there before. Simon ripped off his shirt, and to his utter terror, saw that the bandages on his torso were now blood-soaked, crimson streams oozing down his chest and then dripping onto his pants and the floor. The wounds were bleeding as if they were freshly inflicted! Simon screamed out in terror, and in pain._

_But then, the crowd parted in front of Simon, even though he was barely aware of it. Then a voice, that made Simon's heart freeze in mid beat reached his ears. The beautiful, yet shattered and furious, voice of a girl. "Why did you do it, Simon? I trusted you. But you used my trust. You took everything I cared about away. You hurt me and didn't even care. You're just a heartless freak. How could you bear having my trust?"_

_That voice, it was like an explosion in Simon's heart. Through the powerful fires of the wounds on his chest, Simon saw the face of which the voice belonged to. And it made his freeze as if he was encased in steel-solid ice. And it made his flesh go icy, his bones frigid. And he shouted before all went black. _

"NO!"

He wasn't sure what woke him, the feelings in his chest, or the sound of his own scream. Simon bolted up right in his bed, panting like he had run a marathon. His face was soaked with sweat, and his tank top was damp from the perspiration. Simon ran a shaking hand over his chest, feeling so relieved that no blood was there.

He fearfully looked around the room with cautious eyes, trying to see if he was where he was supposed to be. He was in his room at the institute, alone in his room, in his bed.

He let out a relieved sigh as he tried to regain his breathing.

The nightmares. They were coming back to haunt him. But why now? He hadn't had one of them since a month ago. But they were returning. And this had been even worse than those before. It was a reminder of his mind, never allowing him to forget. It was his ultimate failure, not just to himself, but also to everyone who trusted him. When would these images ever stop haunting him?

Tears started to run down his face at the memories of what he had done. "I'm sorry," he spoke aloud, even though no one was there to hear him "I'm so sorry."

Suddenly the door opened and light spilled into the room. Simon looked up through his bleary eyes to see some of the other members of the institute pour into the room. He saw Scott, Jean, and Kitty at the door and as they came into the room, Rogue and Kurt followed. All of them had their eyes fixed on Simon. Simon suddenly wished that he was more composed that he was. He really didn't want them to see him like this, but the feelings were impossible to dampen down.

"Simon?" asked Jean, worry and concern sketched into her features.

"What, like happened?" Kitty asked, "I like heard your shrieking all the way down the hall." That gave Simon the impression that maybe he'd awoken the entire institute with his cries. Now everyone would see him in this emotionally shattered state.

The group came closer to Simon, taking in his messed up hair and his sweaty appearance, his eyes red and bloodshot with tears that were streaming down his face. But the haunted look in his eyes really worried them.

"Vhat happened?" asked Kurt, "You look awful!"

"I-I-," Simon found himself sputtering, for he found he couldn't make the words come out. He couldn't tell them what he had seen. Never.

Scott and Jean edged closer to Simon's bedside, taking dae not to approch too quickly. Jean was feeling a tremendous amount of feeling radiating off of Simon, dread, terror, sorrow, and so many other emotions. She hadn't felt emotions this strong in ages.

"Simon what happened to you?" asked Scott, "Did you have a nightmare or something?"

Simon barely nodded. "Yes," he managed to get out, "It was terrible, the images the voices, everything was everywhere. I couldn't---," he couldn't finish his sentence, for the memories were overwhelming. He started to tremble.

Jean placed an assuring hand on Simon's shoulder, trying to calm him. "Easy Simon," she soothed, "Try to breath. Take slow deep breathes."

"Are yah okay?" asked Rogue, "What made yah shout out like that? Tell us."

"I-I can't," Simon choked out, "It's-it's indescribable."

Just then, a new face appeared in the room. Logan. His animal keen sense of hearing had more than picked up Simon's cries of terror and had been more than enough to wake him. "What's all the commotion?" asked the Canadian.

"Simon's been having nightmares," Kitty explained, "It woke us all up, so we came to check on him."

Logan looked at Simon, who looked like he had seen a ghost. He could smell the fear on the kid's scent. And God almighty was it strong.

"You okay, kid?" asked Logan, in a remarkably soft voice for him.

"What makes you ask that?" asked Simon, in sarcastic tone, "Please, just leave me alone."

"What's going on?" came yet another voice, this one with fatherly concern in it. Professor Xavier came into the room, having sensed Simon's powerful emotions in his sleep. He looked to Logan, who merely raised an eyebrow and motioned to Simon, who Scott and Jean were trying to comfort as Rogue, Kitty, and Kurt looked on in wonderment.

"What's wrong?" asked the professor.

"Simon's just had a nightmare," Scott explained, "And we're guessing it was a pretty harsh one."

Xavier wheeled closer to the bed as the others got out of the way. With a telepath of his strength, it was like being ina smoke-filled room with emotion being the smoke. "Are you alright, Simon?"

"I had a dream. A nightmare," Simon told him, "I though they'd gone away, but they haven't." That last statement made people's eyebrows rise in question. He'd had these nightmares before? Since when?

"You mean you've had zhem before?" asked Kurt, sounding surprised.

"What are they about?" asked Kitty, "When did they start?"

"Everyone, please," Xavier tried to maintain control, "let me handle this. Do you want to talk about it, Simon?"

The boy shook his head in denial, hoping to be alone. "No," he said quickly, "I just want to be alone."

Xavier took that a sign to need some space and understood it. "Very well, we'll see to this later when you feel more up to it." He then looked to his students. "Simon needs some time alone."

"But can yah get back to sleep?" asked Rogue.

"I think so," Simon responded.

"You sure?" asked Kitty.

"Yes," Simon said irritably, "Now I just want to be left alone."

"Come everyone," said Xavier, "Everyone back to bed. In case you've forgotten, we have a DR session in the morning."

With that, the occupants of the room filed out, leaving Simon alone once more. Tired from his experience, Simon sank back on the bed. Hopefully he could fall asleep again for the reminder of the night without the nightmares returning.

* * *

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